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Apple Sued by Women After Exes Use AirTags to Stalk Them
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I feel like you could have a viable case, only IF, you also own and use an iPhone. If your own device is used as the method, or even supplemental method, for providing the location to the tracker itself and thus forwarding those details to Apple - at which point they are provided by Apple to the tracker owner... You really start getting into direct involvement by Apple in providing very accurate and timely location details of someone who is unknowingly being tracked. Layered with the time delay in notification of the 'tracked' carrier or known carrier companion - it really feels like a compelling case. Especially if damages can be shown (physical, mental or otherwise).
#notalawyer
#notalawyer
I don't think the AirTag is long for this world.
Apple should give store credit to the Apple accounts they're attached to and turn them all off.
Apple should give store credit to the Apple accounts they're attached to and turn them all off.
Nonsense, there are much better trackers for spying on people than AirTags.
Without the criminal misuse (stalking) none of the AirTag tracking is an actual damage. I believe the anonymized relaying of AirTag location info back to Apple is agreed to in the user agreement. They would have to specifically opt out of that feature for it to not to apply.
This (kinda).
Was stalking/privacy violations a foreseeable future of the product? Yes.
Was Apple's implementations to prevent these foreseeable issues adequate?
If yes, case likely dismissed.
If no, was there a reasonable solution that Apple could have done but did not do so because the burden of doing it was greater than the benefit? If the burden is greater, then case likely dismissed. If the burden is less, then case not dismissed.
I don't agree with the lawsuit itself (seems like a blatant cash grab to me like those mass spam passerby ADA violating lawsuits) as well, but let's see what comes from it.
AirTags work pretty well. Now that we are post-pandemic and me and my stuff are in motion again, I can really appreciate them. Despite the negative press, these are a winner for Apple and I don't see them cancelling them no matter how many people sue.
But wouldn't part of the case depend on two things: whether or not she filed any sort of court order like a restraining order or something similar basically documenting the husband and whether or not she has sole custody or whatever the legal arrangement may be? If the husband still has full parental rights then the airtag in the child's backpack wouldn't matter because legally speaking he would have every right to know where his child is.
She is taking the battle up with the wrong person/entity. She should take this airtag information and file for whatever custody and a possible restraining order and do the steps to possibly get the man in jail/prison if it comes down to it.
I’m entitled to a life free of problems. I’ll just sue the wealthy company. Sue Levi‘s too. Those jeans allowed him to leave the house after all.
I have not read the filings but I believe these suits are working from the assumption these are established criminal acts (Stalking, illegal use of a tracking device, etc.) in a court that have resulted in some sort of damages. Probably emotional distress or maybe even physical injury. Without some quantifiable damage or injury to the plaintiff there would be no cause at all to sue anyone.
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Maybe it could be used as a defense argument from Apple, but the claim here is that the privacy protections Apple implemented is inadequate.
Both proceedings could exist - one against Apple for a claim of inadequate privacy protections and one against the ex for custody/restraining order/etc for personal protection. It's not an either/or situation.
Either way, plaintiffs would need to show harm to get relief.
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I suspect that Apple is probably going to claim that the notification features were never intended to protect victims, but to further dissuade the owner of the device from using it to stalk someone by letting them know they likely risk the system notifying their intended victim of their stalking. They will also likely argue that the notification to the owner of the AirTag about only tracking objects they own and not tracking people was sufficient and that they cannot be liable for criminal misuse of their product. Apple doesn't have a relationship to the potential victim for them to blindly offer this up as a reliable safety feature and will probably do as much as they can to limit that exposure in their testimony. This will most likely pit Apple's legal position against their PR and marketing positions, but this is the world we live in now.
Another thing to consider is this isn't illegal activity everywhere and in those places Apple wouldn't be preventing a crime but just using technology guardrails to enforce socially acceptable behavior.
Anyone remember the case of the woman who sued McD for hot coffee that she put between her legs?There was some woman who stole a car and hoarded gasoline. She fled the cops, crashed and started a fire/explosion:
Woman Hoarding Gas Runs From Police And Crashes Causing "Multiple Explosions" | Carscoops
Running from police with a trunk full of gas apparently is a very bad ideawww.carscoops.com
I would be interested in hearing the legal argument regarding the idea that when individuals track people without their knowledge is not acceptable but when corporations do it is totally fine.
Yes. That woman was severely injured and McDonald's was rightfully found to be negligent.
Wow the Apple echo camber is running at 100% today. It’s great seeing so many Apple influencers at work. Apple built a tracking network that uses millions of privately owned devices without the user’s consent and most of you are saying it’s her fault. Love big money from corporations much?
The fact it notifies people that it’s moving with. Is designed to not track people.
That’s not the whole story though is it.
Instead of sharing the meme, why not share the whole truth?
Most people are not saying it is "her fault." Most debate on the matter revolves around how much liability falls on the shoulders of the stalkers who committed the crimes (there is more than one case here) and how much, if any, falls on Apple and what legal strategies they could employ to limit it.
Don't start spouting that nonsense, the only reason this went to trial was McD refusing to cover the medical expenses and offering $800 for being partially disabled for years. It was reported that she never fully recovered from this accident and led her to an early grave. I am sure she did that on purpose.
‘I didn’t want it anywhere near me’: how the Apple AirTag became a gift to stalkers
A gadget the size of a 10p coin, the AirTag was intended to help people find their keys. Instead it has facilitated a boom in terrifying behaviour from abusers
The article brings up a few good points. Such as:
Except it doesn't unless you have an iPhone. The speaker can and will be disabled by the stalker, unless you have the foresight to install the track notification app on an Android phone you'll never be able to know. Furthermore the article I linked above states:
So what do you do with people that aren't familiar with Airtags at all? For example I guarantee my mum has never heard of them and if she got such a notification I give it a 50:50 chance of whether she asks me or just dismisses it because she gets all sorts of notifications she doesn't necessarily understands or cares about.
Apple could have designed the airtags with that in mind, for example by bricking an airtag if the speaker is disabled. Apple is very skilled to mate hardware together like they do with iPhones where even an original Apple screen replacement part will trigger warnings on the iphone, unless the replacement was done by Apple. So they have the tech already to brick their devices if altered.
Apple could easily have done better with the airtags from the start but chose not to. And that's the real issue I have with this. You are all right that gps trackers exist, but surely we can agree that Apple should be held to a different standard than some random seller from aliexpress.