AirTag stalking has led to ‘multiple murders,’ claims lawsuit against Apple

A class action lawsuit against Apple claims that AirTag stalking has led to “multiple murders.”

The lawsuit alleges that AirTags have been used by stalkers in at least 20 US states, and that Apple has failed to take adequate action to protect victims …

AirTag stalking – a brief history

AirTags being abused by stalkers has long been a problem, with concerns first voiced almost as soon as the tracking devices were launched, and multiple problems identified. Police reports followed, ranging from coercive and controlling behavior by domestic partners to kidnappings.

Apple responded with a range of improvements to the privacy protections already in place, including a warning when setting up an AirTag, improved alerts, and better algorithms to detect likely misuse.

Around a year after launch, analysis of around 150 police reports revealed that the anti-stalking measures were only working around a third of the time.

Back in April of last year, we outlined five additional steps Apple could take to improve protections against AirTag abuse.

Class action lawsuit

A lawsuit was first filed on behalf of two AirTag stalking victims back in December of last year. ArsTechnica reports that this has now grown into a class action lawsuit representing “more than three dozen victims.”

They alleged in an amended complaint that, partly due to Apple’s negligence, AirTags have become “one of the most dangerous and frightening technologies employed by stalkers” because they can be easily, cheaply, and covertly used to determine “real-time location information to track victims.”

Since the lawsuit was initially filed in 2022, plaintiffs have alleged that there has been an “explosion of reporting” showing that AirTags are frequently being used for stalking, including a spike in international AirTags stalking cases and more than 150 police reports in the US as of April 2022. More recently, there were 19 AirTags stalking cases in one US metropolitan area—Tulsa, Oklahoma—alone, the complaint said.

One of the original plaintiffs was the mother of a man killed by his girlfriend after she used an AirTag to track his location, and the complaint alleges that this is one of “multiple murders” aided by the device.

“Consequences have been as severe as possible: multiple murders have occurred in which the murderer used an AirTag to track the victim,” their complaint alleged. One plaintiff from Indiana, LaPrecia Sanders, lost her son after his girlfriend allegedly used an AirTag to track his movements and then “followed him to a bar and ran him over with her car, killing him at the scene.”

The lawsuit argues that Apple’s protective measures are “totally inadequate.”

Apple has until October 27 to respond, and is likely to call for the case to be dismissed.

9to5Mac’s Take

Two things are true here.

First, if you are a criminal intent on stalking someone, an AirTag is about the worst possible tracking device you could choose – thanks to the very protections Apple has implemented.

Second, more people are aware of AirTags than any other tracking device, and that fact has led to an increase in the very serious problem of electronic stalking.

We continue to urge Apple to boost the protections offered, implementing the suggestions we made last year.

Photo: Onur Binay/Unsplash

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