A LITTLE less than a year after its release, Apple is putting the kibosh on the many ways that AirTags have been hijacked for uses that they weren't intended for.
The American manufacturer has announced new measures that will be implemented this year to fight against piracy or tracking and harassment of people.
An AirTag is a small location tag designed to help an owner locate a precious object at any time in case of loss or theft. They could be used with a handbag as well as keys, a wallet, a medicine bag or any other valuables. But they have frequently been misused, in particular, to track or follow a person without that person's knowledge.
Apple condemns these behaviours and now wants to put a stop to them through the introduction of several measures. The first one concerns the implementation of new alerts, when configuring the device.
They will announce that the use of an AirTag to track people without their consent is a crime in many countries. In addition, later this year, a series of updates will make it possible to accurately locate an unknown AirTag in case of suspected tracking.
Finally, Apple has committed to collaborating with police if necessary, as each AirTag is linked to a serial number, itself associated with an Apple ID. This information could obviously be very important to trace a possible stalker. – ETX Daily Up, February 15, 2022
