Gyroscopic Investing

glennds wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 3:06 pm I heard this week about a new class action lawsuit brought by two California women against Apple. Apparently both women were stalked by former partners. In one case the ex hid the AirTag in the wheel well of the woman's car, and in the other case the AirTag was hidden in a child's backpack. There have been lots of stalking reports involving AirTags but this is the first time Apple is being sued as far as I know.

Among several allegations in the lawsuit are claims that Apple breached the plaintiff's privacy, violated state privacy laws, engaged in deceitful marketing by leading the public to believe AirTags are safe, and committed gross negligence. If successful, this could mean the end of the AirTag. I hope not, I think the AirTag is a great device, with lots of legitimate applications, the obvious being locating lost personal belongings. I attached one to my carry on bag that I am completely capable of losing in an airport or on a train.

What do you think? Is Apple effectively enabling bad actors who use their devices in nefarious ways? Does it seem right that we might all lose access to AirTags because of a few bad apples?

Is it enough that Apple does send a notification to your phone that an unfamiliar AirTag has been detected nearby? Adding that feature was their first response to stalking reports soon after the product was launched.

One good thing that could come out of a lawsuit like this is more visibility into Apple's privacy practices and their handling of the tracking data they invariably have on every iPhone and AirTag user.

Mountaineer wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 3:38 pmSounds like the same type of people who sue for most any reason rather than take personal responsibility for their knowledge (e.g. failure to do homework) and actions related to products they choose purchase (and should maintain control over). The list of blaming a properly manufactured object and/or object maker is endless: cars, guns, forks, knives, ball bats, ........

Mountaineer wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 3:38 pm


Sounds like the same type of people who sue for most any reason rather than take personal responsibility for their knowledge (e.g. failure to do homework) and actions related to products they choose purchase (and should maintain control over). The list of blaming a properly manufactured object and/or object maker is endless: cars, guns, forks, knives, ball bats, ........

Xan wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 4:50 pm

Mountaineer wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 3:38 pmSounds like the same type of people who sue for most any reason rather than take personal responsibility for their knowledge (e.g. failure to do homework) and actions related to products they choose purchase (and should maintain control over). The list of blaming a properly manufactured object and/or object maker is endless: cars, guns, forks, knives, ball bats, ........

The Apple case might be a bit more complicated because they actively manage this tracking network, and it could be argued were participating in the stalking.

Here's another wrinkle: the Apple airtag network makes use of the phones of random other Apple phone owners. These people might also be liable. They've contracted with this spy network to enable stalking.

glennds wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 3:06 pm
Is it enough that Apple does send a notification to your phone that an unfamiliar AirTag has been detected nearby? Adding that feature was their first response to stalking reports soon after the product was launched.