Two women are suing Apple after their ex partners used AirTags to harass them

Two women have filed a lawsuit in the United States against Manzana after their ex partners have used the AirTags for secretly controlling them and know where they were.

Apple AirTags are tiny trackers designed to prevent the loss of valuables, from a set of keys to a suitcase travelling. These devices were designed to be attached to a purse, for example, or a purse. But like all technology, it can be used with bad intentions.

This is the claim of two women who ask Apple for damages (despite the amount they ask he has not transcended).

The proposed lawsuit was filed Monday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California and accuses Apple of failing to introduce effective measures to prevent harassers from using AirTags to track people.

Both plaintiffs in the lawsuit said their former partners had used AirTags to harass them and that they continued to fear for their safety.

those affected

Court documents said Lauren Hughes, who lives in Travis County, Texas, learned he was doing using an AirTag to track her down in August 2021 after breaking off a three-month relationship. Hughes’ stalker left him threatening voicemails and made abusive posts on his social media accounts.

Hughes has decided to move out after the stalker left items outside his apartment. While in a hotel during the move, he received a notification on her phone that an unknown AirTag was traveling with her: he found it in a hole in the steering wheel of his car. After she moved, her stalker posted a photo online of a taco truck in her new neighborhood and included “#airt2.0along with a wink smiley emoji in the caption, the lawsuit says.

The second plaintiff, who lives in Brooklyn, chose not to give her name and is listed in the court records as Jane Doe. She found an AirTag in her son’s backpack this summer after a “litigation divorce”, and the lawsuit alleged that her stalker was “committed to continuing to use AirTags to track, harass and threaten her.”

The lawsuit documents concerns raised by domestic violence groups, digital privacy experts, and in news articles soon after Apple announced AirTags in April 2021.

The AirTags

Apple first introduced AirTags in 2021. It’s a small coin-sized device that costs $29. The way it works is connection to Bluetooth from the nearby Apple to be able to reveal the position (for this reason they do not depend on internet connectivity).

However, since they were introduced, domestic violence survivors and individual rights advocates have warned early on that stalkers could benefit from trackers.

“With a price of suns $29it has become the weapon of choice for harassers and harassers,” the lawsuit states.

In February, Apple said it would update AirTags to make it harder for people to use them to track others without their consent. The changes included improving the alert system that lets people with iPhones know that an unknown AirTag is nearby.

The lawsuit said the company’s security measures were “woefully inadequate,” in part because they don’t deliver automatic protections for Android users, who need to download an app to be notified of an unknown AirTag nearby.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company made product changes earlier this year after complaints, stating: “we condemn in the strongest possible terms any harmful use of our products”.