Apple hit with lawsuit alleging AirTags used to stalk girls

Apple is the goal of a category motion lawsuit alleging that AirTag has grow to be a "harmful" software for stalkers to trace and comply with girls and that the corporate has not completed sufficient to counter the observe.

Two girls filed a federal lawsuit towards Apple on Monday within the Northern District Court docket of California, alleging that their exes used the real-time location tracker to trace and harass them. The swimsuit arrived after a number of police stories have been launched in 2022 alleging that the software had been used to comply with a number of people.

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AirTags' live-tracking of location makes it "Some of the harmful and horrifying applied sciences employed by stalkers," the swimsuit claims. One of many two girls within the case claims that her ex-boyfriend coloured an AirTag with a sharpie and hid it contained in the wheel effectively of her automotive. The opposite girl alleged that her "estranged husband" had planted the AirTag onto their kid's bag. When she eliminated the gadget, it was later changed.

The tags have been used to trace an assortment of people. One household stated they have been "terrified" after discovering that a stranger had connected an AirTag to their baggage throughout their go to to Walt Disney World.

Apple acknowledged "stories of dangerous actors trying to misuse AirTag for malicious or prison functions" in a February weblog publish. The Massive Tech firm stated that it was working with legislation enforcement and different consultants to counter these efforts and releasing a collection of updates to account for these fixes. These embrace "precision discovering" for the iPhone that may enable customers to find undesirable trackers and textual content alerts that may assist a consumer discover an AirTag whether it is positioned someplace the place its sound is muffled. The updates haven't been launched as of December 2022.

The swimsuit asks that a jury assess whether or not Apple ought to owe punitive damages for allegedly releasing the AirTag with inadequate security measures to cease stated stalking practices.