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Youvebeeneloned t1_j9klutn wrote

The problem becomes people using it to stalk as mentioned.

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phoenix1984 t1_j9ko9p7 wrote

Right, an air tag that’s shared with family increases transparency. The AirTag can still function as it’s meant to, but wouldn’t alert when my wife takes our dog to the park without me. It would be useless for stalking my wife because she would be able to see the AirTag and its location in her account too. As for handling breakups, Apple has a great privacy checkup tool that lets you completely separate your shared data with someone instantly.

The solution here is shared AirTags. No added risk, fewer false positives which in turn make people safer because they’re more likely to trust the alerts they get.

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maru11 t1_j9lk13q wrote

You would still have to check the app ever now and then to see if your partner is stalking you, because it would not pro-actively trigger an alert right it does right now. I understand Apple, that this not as easy of a choice as it seams. Also probably hard to get if you’re not thinking in these scenarios or if you’re not affected by domestic abuse.

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phoenix1984 t1_j9lkr4q wrote

That’s not really helped or hurt with shared tags. If my wife already shares her location with me, there is no added risk to her if our dog’s location is also shared.

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maru11 t1_j9lm2b8 wrote

As I said, this is not as easy. A family account doesn’t force you to share your device location - you can just have it off and still be in the family account.

How does adding an AirTag work? Does it send a motivation to every family member that it was added? Does your wife say it’s for the dog, you agree to adding it, and suddenly it’s in your car stalking where you are driving while the dog is at home and there is no notification at all it’s with you?

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phoenix1984 t1_j9lor7p wrote

It wouldn’t automatically be shared with her. It’s all opt in. I would send an invite and she could accept it. Either of us could leave at any time. Once or twice a year my phone gives me a privacy review notification where it walks me through the data I’m sharing with apps and others, allowing me to change it.

If my wife decides to put the dog AirTag in my car, she could, but I could also check that any time I wanted. If I didn’t want her to see my location, I would check which devices are sharing location and where they are. Since it’s opt in and Apple has those periodic privacy reviews, I think the level of risk is low.

The current approach of spamming AirTag notifications when someone who lives with other iPhone users uses them creates a pattern where we learn to ignore them, which is a far bigger risk.

The only real alternative is to not have the technology exist at all. That’s not going to happen. I’d rather it be done by a responsible company like apple than someone who doesn’t take these precautions.

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moofie74 t1_j9n9y3n wrote

Yup. And if I am an evil partner, I can get my target partner’s phone and accept the invitation.

I’d love shared AirTags because I’m not evil. I also totally understand why it is the way it is.

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GummyKibble t1_j9pbppl wrote

Just like Find My Friends, which already exists.

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Curious_Charge9431 t1_j9ndk4h wrote

> Either of us could leave at any time.

But not cleanly. The problem with this is in the domestic violence or stalking situation is that it becomes known to the other person that the AirTag has stopped sharing. (It doesn't matter if it happens through notification or the AirTag disappears from the other person's screen.)

Until the person stops sharing their AirTag the location is shared with the other person and so is something of a route to some point where the AirTag sharing is then turned off.

One way around this is to allow a scramble AirTag location, whereby the person can press a button and the AirTag location is reported as somewhere random and different.

>The only real alternative is to not have the technology exist at all. That’s not going to happen.

I just watched a company attempt to create a fictional $1 million contractural fine for misuse of their product. They may not be able to make this one work out.

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engwish t1_j9nwd91 wrote

I understand both arguments, but if you have already enabled family location sharing which shares every device with your family members then I don’t see why AirTags couldn’t be added as well. If privacy is a major concern for DA, Apple should consider regularly reminding folks that they’re sharing their location with their family and give finer controls over what can be shared/not shared.

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acosmichippo t1_j9kojz8 wrote

of course it would require opt-in from your family and opt out available at any time. then the AirTag should default to functioning like an unshared AirTag. that doesn't seem like it would be too hard for apple to do.

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jonny_eh t1_j9n44p2 wrote

Right. I get notified when I go on walks with my wife. Apple gets scared that my wife’s keys are following me!

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au-smurf t1_j9ocqyc wrote

Thats how it works if you set it up properly.

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earthwormjim91 t1_j9lein7 wrote

Which wouldn't be an issue with family sharing already. I mean, my wife and I have family sharing set up with our locations in Find My. We can always see where each others' devices are.

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tylerderped t1_j9ktonb wrote

Not allowing it to be shared doesn’t fix that tho. You can still stalk someone, it’ll just continuously notify them.

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