Apple sued as women claim AirTag device allowed ex-boyfriends to track them down
Apple said it had made the devices “stalkerproof,” but a proposed class action lawsuit filed in San Francisco says this is not true. AirTags are small discs, about 3cm in diameter, that cost from £24 and can be attached to keys, wallets, backpacks, and other things so they can be found if they get lost. But people are worried that some of them are being used for bad or illegal things. The two women are suing for themselves and on behalf of other people who say they have been followed because of their AirTags. Read More: Lauren Hughes moved to get away from an ex-boyfriend, and she says he found out where she lived by putting an AirTag in her car’s wheel well. She said that he later posted a picture of a taco truck from her new neighborhood online with the hashtag “#airt2.0” and an emoji of a winking eye. The other plaintiff, who does not want to be identified, said that her ex-husband found her by putting an AirTag in their child’s backpack. They say that AirTags are “the weapon of choice for stalkers and abusers” and that it has been linked to the deaths of women in Ohio and Indiana this year. The devices send out a Bluetooth signal that Apple’s Find My Network can pick up on. Their lawsuit asks for unspecified damages for US owners of iOS or Android-based devices who were tracked by AirTag or are “at risk” of being stalked because Apple was allegedly careless. Apple hasn’t said anything yet even though people have asked them to. The California-based company admits that “bad actors” have tried to use AirTags in bad ways. In February, Apple said it was going to make changes that would make it easier to find devices and warn users more quickly if unknown AirTags were “traveling with them.”
