A Double Edged Sword: Airtags a Force of Help or Harm?
Over 40 years ago, Apple designed its first computer, known as the Apple I. Since then, rapid evolution in technology has hastened advancements in the company’s smart devices, wireless communication, and location tracking services. One of Apple’s more recent technologies, the Apple AirTag, was released nearly 2 years ago in the Spring of 2021.
The Apple Airtag is a tracking device that is commonly attached to backpacks and keychains. However, the AirTag’s pocket-sized structure allows it to be attached onto inconspicuous places including purses, bikes, and even car license plates. The AirTag works by sending out a Bluetooth signal that is received by nearby devices that are registered under Apple's extensive “Find My” network. Through using the “Find My” app, users are subsequently able to view the location of the tracker. Starting at just $29, the AirTag provides an affordable way to track items, but the convenience of the AirTag has also led to concerns regarding stalking and illegal tracking of individuals.
Since its release, rising reports of hidden AirTags have surfaced in the news. In December of 2022, two women filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple in a California district court, claiming that “AirTags have been ‘the weapon of choice for stalkers and abusers.’” The lawsuit outlines negligence and product liability among others in its charge against Apple. One of the women stated an AirTag was hidden on her car tires, allegedly by her ex-boyfriend. The AirTag was reported to be colored in using a Sharpie marker to camouflage its location on the car. The other woman reported that her ex-husband placed an AirTag in their child’s backpack. These misuses of Apple’s AirTags violate stalking laws in many states. In at least 11 states (Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Washington, and Wyoming) location tracking is banned under existing stalking laws and many other states prohibit non-consensual use of electronic tracking devices to monitor the location of other individuals.
Despite these stalking laws, however, numerous stories about hidden AirTags continue to circulate around social media platforms. One person made a Twitter post detailing that an AirTag was placed on the underside of her car wheel while she was in a bar. Another group made a post after they found an AirTag placed on their rental car following a concert. These reports are just a few amongst several others that continue to surface and create rising concern within the public. These misuses of Apple’s AirTags violate electronic motor vehicle privacy laws that detail it is an offense to place “an electronic tracking device in or on a motor vehicle without the consent of the operator and all occupants of the vehicle…”. However, the penalty for committing offenses using AirTag’s appears to be minimal. In Newburyport, a local Massachusetts town, a man was held on $2,500 bail for placing an AirTag on his girlfriend’s car. These existing stalking policies seem to adequately match the severity of the crime, highlighting the need to reexamine stalking laws.
To address these concerns, Apple released a statement in February 2022 writing that they have been working alongside law enforcement agencies as well as alerting users’ devices when an AirTag is located nearby. Despite these safeguards, AirTags are still subject to abusive use, and individual lawsuits seldom allow those to seek justice on a federal level. Based on a recent study, 81 out of the top 100 companies in the country have included legal clauses in customer agreement documents that make it difficult for customers to sue the company at a federal court level. Many of these Fortune 500 companies seek to prevent customers from pursuing litigation through incorporating arbitration clauses, a type of dispute resolution, where customers are forced to resolve legal disputes in alternative ways that don’t involve the federal system. Aside from seeking justice in the highest court of the country, bringing a case to the federal level attracts attention toward the issue at hand. The existing difficulties associated with pursuing a case at the federal level underscores the need to enforce alternative approaches that better address the severity of stalking crimes. Establishing a standardized enforcement of fines across states can help to maintain consistent punishment practices. Alternatively, increasing the severity of fines and punishments for violation for stalking laws may potentially deter future offenses.