terrible! Apple's anti-loss artifact AirTag turned out to be a tracking weapon: female models were tracked for 5 hours at night

Image source: Apple

Last April, Apple launched the Air Tag, a button-sized wireless device meant to help people track items that are easy to lose, but scarily, it is used to track people.

Recently, Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Brooks Nader said in ins that this week in New York, when she walked home alone at night, the mobile phone suddenly received a notification that someone was tracking her location, and "for a while", only to find that the coat pocket had been stuffed with an Apple AirTag at some point, which had been tracked for five hours, which made her shudder.

"I was at a bar in Tribeca." Nader said, "I was alone in the bar waiting for someone, my coat in a chair behind me. It was crowded and a bit crowded. Then I went to a nearby bar and met a few female friends. No notifications have been received at this time. Then went to the next location without notice. Then, when I walked home alone, I lived nearby. At about 11:30 p.m., I was on my way home when I suddenly got a notification that someone was following you and had been following you for a while. She continued, "I'm terrified! And then!!! My phone is running out of battery! ”

Nader said she received the following notifications: "An unknown accessory was detected," "The item has been moving with you for a while," and "The owner can see its location."

This does not seem to be an isolated case, a Florida woman once told the media that an AirTag was found in the back of her car, and the nanny at the time saw the notification displayed on the mobile phone in time. "All the bad things came to my head right away."

Back last December, a Washington Post columnist wrote an article criticizing Apple's AirTag for tracking someone "easily." In tests at the time, the writer carried the AirTag with him, and his colleagues were able to pinpoint his location: When riding on the street, the AirTag would update its location every few minutes within about half a block; when he was at home, his colleague's app would report the exact address.

In response, an Apple spokesperson said they "take the safety of their customers very seriously and are committed to the privacy and security of AirTag." An Apple spokesperson said: "AirTag has designed a set of proactive features to discourage unwanted tracking — a first in the industry — notifying users if an unknown AirTag might be with them and preventing bad actors from using AirTags for nefarious purposes." "If users feel their security is at stake, we encourage them to contact local law enforcement, and they can work with Apple to provide any available information about the unknown AirTag."

Last December, Apple also launched The Tracker Detect, which makes it easier for Android users to spot track. Tracker Detect's application interface shows that the app's role is to check whether there is an AirTag around to prevent the user from being tracked, but the Tracker Detect can only detect the AirTag that is separate from the owner to prevent false positives.