Ethically, the power to covertly track things with AirTags is a doubled-edged sword.
The tiny Bluetooth devices from Apple are notoriously creepy. However, according to the Portland Tribune, they also helped one Portland, Oregon, lawyer prove that a city contractor was illegally sending unhoused people’s property to the landfill.
Michael Fuller, a lawyer working to stop city-sponsored sweeps of homeless encampments, reportedly attached 16 AirTags to personal items belonging to people living in Portland’s Laurelhurst Park. He did so with the people’s permission, hoping to show that a city contractor conducting the sweeps was dumping those possessions at the Recology Oregon waste transfer station instead of moving them to a warehouse, as required by law, for people to later claim.
“Due to the tracking technology, we have proof positive that Rapid Response broke the law and took property that was perfectly clean and sanitary, and belonged to homeless people, and took them to the dump,” Fuller told the Portland Tribune.
AirTags, which Apple unveiled in April of 2021, have been problematic from the start. The small Bluetooth-powered discs can be discretely attached to everyday items, and, via the collective power of Apple’s Find My network, enable people to locate their lost possessions with relative ease.
As privacy advocates like EFF Director of Cybersecurity Evan Galperin have pointed out, AirTags offer unparalleled opportunities for abusers looking to keep tabs on people.
Notwithstanding Apple’s belated efforts to make it harder for would-be stalkers to misuse their products, AirTags remain a cheap and effective tool for abuse.
Fuller, it seems, was able to briefly flip the script — using AirTags to help the vulnerable at the expense of the powerful. And it doesn’t sound like he’s going to stop any time soon.
SEE ALSO: AirTags are scarily good at tracking items and…people. I know because I tried.
“We’re going to keep doing this as long as these sweeps continue,” he insisted to the Portland Tribune.
