AirTags are a popular way to track lost or stolen items, but they’re also being used by stalkers to track their victims. In a class-action lawsuit filed in California last December 2022, more than three dozen victims allege that Apple has not done enough to mitigate the risks of AirTags stalking. (via Ars Technica)
In fact AirTag stalking cases have been reported in over 150 US police departments as of April 2022, including 19 recent cases in Tulsa, Oklahoma alone.
The plaintiffs argue that AirTags are cheap, easy to use, and can be hidden almost anywhere. They also say that Apple’s safety features are inadequate, and that the company has been slow to address the problem.
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One plaintiff, Georgia resident Brittany Alowonle, reported that she and her daughter were being stalked by someone using AirTags within the past two weeks. She cannot locate the AirTags, but she receives daily alerts from Apple and chimes from the AirTags that confirm that they are still there.
Another plaintiff, Irish national Àine O’Neill, had been living in California while launching a Hollywood career that was just taking off when she found AirTags inexplicably being used to monitor her every move. She gave up her career and moved back to Ireland, feeling that she had “no way of revealing the identity of her stalker or properly gauging the level of danger she was in.”
The lawsuit also alleges that AirTag stalking has led to violence, including murder. One plaintiff from Indiana, LaPrecia Sanders, lost her son after his girlfriend allegedly used an AirTag to track his movements and then “followed him to a bar and ran him over with her car, killing him at the scene.”
The class action lawsuit alleges that AirTag stalking has caused significant costs and harms to victims in 20 US states. The plaintiffs are suing Apple for negligence, unjust enrichment, and invasion of privacy. They are seeking damages for the victims, as well as a court order requiring Apple to make AirTags safer.
Tech and domestic violence experts warned Apple ahead of the product release that AirTags could be used for unwanted stalking, but the company has been slow to address the problem.
