Two Women Sue Apple Over AirTag Stalking - The New York Times

Business|Two Women Sue Apple Over AirTag Stalking

Two women sued Apple connected Monday implicit the dangers of its AirTag tracking devices successful the hands of stalkers, saying the institution had failed to heed warnings from advocacy groups and quality reports.

The projected people enactment suit was filed connected Monday successful the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and accuses Apple of failing to present effectual safeguards that would forestall stalkers from utilizing AirTags to way people. The women said the devices had been utilized by their erstwhile partners to way them.

Apple introduced AirTags, which outgo $29 and are astir the size of a quarter, past twelvemonth arsenic a instrumentality that could beryllium utilized to way idiosyncratic items similar keys and wallets. Other devices prime up their Bluetooth signals; immoderate iPhone users get alerts if a adjacent AirTag is moving alongside them. Advocates for survivors of home unit warned aboriginal connected that stalkers could instrumentality vantage of the trackers.

“With a terms constituent of conscionable $29, it has go the limb of prime of stalkers and abusers,” the suit said.

Apple did not instantly respond to a petition for comment. The institution made changes to the products aboriginal this twelvemonth aft complaints, saying, “We condemn successful the strongest imaginable presumption immoderate malicious usage of our products.”

Both plaintiffs successful the suit said that their erstwhile partners had utilized AirTags to stalk them and that they continued to fearfulness for their safety.

The tribunal papers said that Lauren Hughes, who lives successful Travis County, Texas, learned that an AirTag was being utilized to way her successful August 2021 aft the breakup of a three-month relationship. Ms. Hughes’s stalker near her threatening dependable message messages and made abusive posts connected her societal media accounts.

Ms. Hughes decided to determination aft the stalker near items extracurricular her apartment. While she was staying astatine a edifice during the move, she received a notification connected her telephone that an chartless AirTag was traveling with her. She recovered it successful the instrumentality good of her car. After she moved, her stalker posted a photograph online of a taco motortruck successful her caller vicinity and included “#airt2.0” adjacent to a winking look emoji successful the caption, the suit said.

The 2nd plaintiff, who lives successful Kings County, N.Y., chose not to supply her sanction and is referred to arsenic Jane Doe successful the tribunal papers. She recovered an AirTag successful her child’s backpack this summertime aft a “contentious divorce,” and the suit said that her stalker had “a committedness to continuing to usage AirTags to track, harass, and endanger her.”

The suit documents concerns raised by home unit groups, integer privateness experts and successful quality articles conscionable aft Apple announced the AirTag successful April 2021, including a December 2021 nonfiction successful The New York Times that featured interviews with 7 women who believed they had been tracked with AirTags.

In February, Apple said that it would update the AirTag to marque it harder for radical to usage them to way others without their knowledge. The changes included improving the alert strategy that lets radical with iPhones cognize that an chartless AirTag is nearby.

The suit said that the company’s safeguards were “woefully inadequate,” successful portion due to the fact that they bash not connection automatic protections for Android users, who indispensable download an app to get a informing that an chartless AirTag is nearby.

The suit seeks unspecified damages for owners of iOS oregon Android devices who person been tracked with an AirTag oregon are at-risk of being stalked.