Two women sued Manzana in a United States court for being harassed by former romantic partners through the AirTag. According to the San Francisco court, the stalkers used the device to track the movements of those affected.
The class action lawsuit accuses Apple of releasing a product with “inadequate” security measures and doing little to warn a person that they are being tracked.
According to Bloomberg, a woman saw her ex-boyfriend attach the AirTag to the steering wheel of his car. The other plaintiff said that her ex-husband used an AirTag to track her and her child without her consent.
What does an AirTag do?
In simple terms, the AirTag is a kind of button that is used to locate things. The Find My app tracks where the AirTag is and asks it to play noises. It also uses “Precision Search” to help you find your misplaced items. It has a value of 29 dollars or 749 Mexican pesos.
Although the device was designed to track items, it has “become the weapon of choice for harassers and abusers,” the lawsuit says. For example, in June a woman used an AirTag to track a man and ran him over with her car.
Apple had already announced several changes to the AirTag in February, such as letting a person with an iPhone know if they’ve been near a tracker for too long and reminders that the device is for tracking items and that stalking is a crime.
The lawsuit says these measures are inefficient since Android users have to download a separate app if they suspect being harassed with an AirTag.
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How did the plaintiffs suffer?
One of those affected, who chose to remain anonymous, said she had found AirTags in her son’s backpack several times during a “contested divorce” in which the person began to “harass her, challenge her about where she was going and when, particularly when I was with the couple’s son.
Lauren Hughes, the named plaintiff, said she dated a man for three months who then began stalking and harassing her. She moved to a hotel and to another house to get away from him and both times, according to her lawsuit, she used AirTags to find her.
If you or a loved one is experiencing domestic violence, call the 911 emergency hotline.
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