Apple in legal trouble! Women allege their AirTag allows stalkers to track them

By Team Newsable | First Published Dec 7, 2022, 1:00 PM IST

The plaintiffs called AirTag "the weapon of choice of stalkers and abusers,” and said it has been linked to murders this year of women from Akron, Ohio and Indianapolis. The two women say the AirTags were used by their former partners to track them down.

Two women have filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc. on the grounds that the company's AirTag devices have made it simpler for their ex-partners and other stalkers to locate their victims. The ladies claimed that since the company released what it referred to as the "stalker proof" technology in April 2021, Apple has been unable to use AirTag to protect individuals from unwanted trafficking in a proposed class action filed on Monday in federal court in San Francisco.

AirTags, which start at $29 and have a diameter of 1-1/4 inches (3.2 cm), are designed to be put into or attached to backpacks, wallets, keys, and other objects so that they may be found when they are misplaced.

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However, according to law enforcement officials and privacy experts, some people utilise Airtags for nefarious or unlawful objectives. According to the plaintiffs, AirTag has been connected to the killings of women from Indianapolis and Akron, Ohio, this year. They dubbed it "the weapon of choice of stalkers and abusers."

Owners of iOS or Android-based devices in the United States who were monitored by AirTag or are "at danger" of being stalked as a result of Apple's claimed carelessness are seeking unspecified damages in Monday's complaint.

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One of the plaintiffs in Monday's lawsuit, Lauren Hughes, stated that her former boyfriend learned where she had moved to avoid him after placing an AirTag in her car's wheel well. The other plaintiff, Jane Doe, accused her estranged husband of tracking her after putting an AirTag in their child's backpack.

The case is Hughes et al v. Apple Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 22-07668.

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