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The interesting thing is that I have seen multiple reports of this ( think this is is the third), but in every case, they have destroyed it, lost it, or thrown it away before hand - not given it to the police.

Apple can't tell who the devices is from signals in the wild, but they can figure out who it is if someone gives them the physical device. (Apple tracks the serial number of the device, and from what I understand, can provide purchaser/activator information based on the serial number).



I have a feeling the interaction with the police in a lot of jurisdictions would go something like:

“This person at this address tried to track me without my consent! Here’s the documentation from Apple!”

“Ma’am, has the person at this address murdered you?”

“No.”

“I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do right now. If this person does murder you, please call 911 immediately.”


At the very least, a report should be made. If something does happen, at least there's a paper trail and they would be highest on the list of suspects. Could be used as evidence to get a restraining order as well.

If the person does indeed get near to the victim, then the police can actually do something since they are in violation of a court order.


In this situation you should work with a lawyer to have law enforcement discover the owner of the tracker as part of the process to achieve a civil restraining order. It's probably also doable pro se.

There isn't a clean path to obtaining that information merely by filing a police report or having a conversation with an officer. I would think officers would point you to civil court, but if they don't, it wouldn't take much to discover the process.


That is, if you're lucky and they understand what you're talking about.

You'll probably have to spend some time explaining how it works, why it is a serious issue, and then probably be dismissed.


You'd have to explain to the police why a device that's designed for tracking things being placed on your car is a serious issue?


Personal experience of explaining to a police officer how I was able to track down a friend's stolen smartphone.

Edit: it was in Paris, France.


And to continue on that story, even though I gave them the location: "lack of ressources, we can't dispatch anyone at the moment". They never did anything afterwards.


Essentially. As in "if they would just go away, less paperwork for me."


Maybe that’s because none of these reports were actually true?

Honestly, AirTags invading on people’s privacy are the latest fad. And as with any story about the dangers of “Big Tech”, they make for good headlines. Only that nobody bothers to do some basic due diligence on the truthfulness of these reports in the first place. This one is littered with nonsensical facts that makes me not believe in this story for a second.

Which has nothing to do with the fact that there is indeed abuse potential with Apple’s AirTags.


I will (probably) destroy it too immediately. I have no idea why someone put airtag on my car, maybe they want to know location of my house, or want to know where I live?


Probably because it's a made up story.




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