Apple Sued By Victims Of AirTag Stalking
AirTags are convenient at keeping an eye on belongings and whereabouts of loved ones, but AirTags have also garnered a rather undesirable infamy among bad actors. Ever since they launched, the coin-sized trackers have been weaponized for acts like stalking cars and stealing cars. Now, two women have filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple, alleging Apple has been putting people in harm's way and misleading everyone about the safety of its AirTag products. News of the lawsuit was first reported by Bloomberg.
One of the plaintiffs argues that a former partner first started harassing her via social media. Concerned about her safety, the victim temporarily moved to a hotel, only for her iPhone to notify than an unidentified AirTag is traveling with her. After looking around, the victim found an AirTag hidden inside the wheel of her passenger car. It had been colored over and covered with a plastic bag to muffle the alert sounds.
When the victim moved to another location, the stalker deployed another AirTag to find her, and started taunting her on social media by sharing images of her nearby landmarks. The second stalking victim, mentioned only as Jane Doe in the lawsuit, was harassed using an AirTag in the summer of 2022. She later found an AirTag hidden inside the backpack of her child. When she deactivated it, she came across another one nearby.
A serious threat to privacy for Apple
The lawsuit, which has been filed in a district court covering the Northern district of California, seeks class action lawsuit. That would mean Apple will have pay to settle with every person who lists themselves as a victim of AirTags and the lax security approach of Apple. The lawsuit also cites two reports of AirTags allegedly popping up in murder cases as evidence of the risk posed by Apple's tracking device.
As far as class action goes, the lawsuit argues on behalf of all U.S.-based victims of AirTag stalking that use iOS devices and those with an Android phone in their pockets, all of whom were tracked without their consent. It targets Apple on 12 counts of poor conduct, ranging from sheer negligence to direct violation of privacy laws. The plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages from Apple, as well as the cost of the legal battle, alongside injunctive relief that is "necessary to restrain Apple from continuing to commit its illegal and unfair violations of privacy."
Assuming the court accepts the class-action status for the lawsuit, it would mean Apple is staring at a long, drawn-out battle over very tangible threats to users from its celebrated product, and a hefty settlement that would entail paying every class member that joins the legal battle. Apple's claims regarding the safety of AirTags have also been challenged as misleading in the lawsuit, and it could very well shape the future roadmap for the AirTags as a commercially available product.