With the advent of the Apple AirTags, you have the ability to easily find certain objects when you lose them. Ideal to put them in a wallet, hang them on your keychain or place them in your bag. But the product also has a downside.
The Apple AirTags also make it possible to stalk people. I can well imagine that people with malicious intentions do that. Fortunately, legislation is now being worked on in the United States to prevent that.
Law against stalking with Apple AirTags
Legislation to prevent stalking with Apple Airtags is being prepared in the US State of Pennsylvania. There have been a number of incidents in which wrongdoers used the products to find out where the people they want to follow are located via the Find My network. And that, of course, cannot be the intention. With the new legislation it should be forbidden to use the products outside their original purpose. And that is to attach them to products in order to find them. So not to put them in the car of your ex to find out where that person is.
AirTag keychains (Image: Apple)
The initiator of this new legislation is John Galloway, who works in parliament there. According to him, there have been many publications since the launch of the Apple AirTags in which the products were used to stalk. For example, perpetrators would place the products in vehicles, purses or even coat pockets to find out where the victim is. According to Galloway, that’s obviously not what it’s for, which is why the legislation is now being filed. If the law is eventually passed, it could well be made to work in the rest of the United States as well.
Apple states this
Apple recently updated its Personal User Safety Guide for the Apple AirTags, in which it also calls out that the products are not intended for these applications. Want to read more about the product? Then visit our overview page here.
