Domestic violence network expresses concern about AirTags
The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), a prominent US nonprofit, is warning that the company's new AirTags tracking system Apple can pose a great danger to victims of domestic violence. As representatives of the NNEDV explain, AirTags These are small, inexpensive devices that can easily be hidden in a purse or wallet, allowing an abusive partner to know exactly where their victim is at all hours of the day.
Erica Olsen, safety net project director at NNEDV, explained: “When someone is trying to leave an abusive person, or when they are planning to run away, this is a time when stalking and violence can escalate. So it is extremely important that someone planning to leave an abusive relationship can do so without the other person being able to track them down.”
AirTags work through the Find My network Apple, made up of almost 1 billion active devices from the company such as iPhones and Macs. So each user of the Apple is part of the company's AirTag tracking network, and could end up being an unwitting accomplice in the stalking of a victim of domestic violence.
Picture: Apple/Disclosure
According to Apple, iPhone users receive an alert if someone else's AirTag is with them. Additionally, AirTags will beep after three days of not being paired with the source iPhone.
The problem here is that the Apple does not send these AirTag alerts to Android users. So if a domestic violence victim who uses Android lives with an abusive partner who uses iPhone, she won’t get an alert on her phone, and the AirTag hidden in her belongings won’t beep after three days.
As Corbin Streett, technology security specialist at NNEDV, points out, Apple should at least work with Google to extend AirTags protection to everyone. Both companies have already done so with their Covid-19 contact tracing apps.
“A Apple is thinking about a threat model where the victim doesn’t know the stalker. The question is, what if the stalker is the person she has to go back to every day?”, asks Streett.
Through which channels you reach those people, classic and out of the box. Fast Company
Image: Karolina Grabowska (Pexels)
