When they were released a few months ago, AirTags were seen by many as the miracle answer to never misplacing your keys or wallet again. But if Apple's tracker wanted to be the solution to lost objects, uses – illegal – were also possible.
In the first weeks after these small trackers went on sale, police reported numerous cases of people being tracked using hidden AirTags. Generally these offenses were committed for two main reasons.
The first was theft.Criminals placed an AirTag in the carin order to know the location of the latter to take advantage of a moment of calm to come and steal it. The other option, just as common unfortunately, concerns the monitoring of the people themselves.
Indeed, many former boyfriends, having difficulty accepting their separation, have decided to be aware of the slightest actions of their ex-partners. If this behavior is completely illegal,numerous legal proceedingsare currently underway to find the individuals behind this targeted tracing.
Prison for the accused
A first verdict has just been handed down, and the British justice system has shown itself to be intransigent regarding this type of crime. Indeed, the forty-year-old at the origin of this act admitted the facts, he who had explained by SMS to his ex-girlfriend that he was “capable of following her everywhere”.
According to information from the Daily Mail, the man's guilt was beyond doubt and the court therefore decided to punish him with a prison sentence. Since he was placed in pre-trial detention awaiting his trial, it is most likely that he will be released in the coming days, despite the verdict.
The prosecutor also asked the court to put in place a restraining order for the defendant. The latter must never again come into contact with his former girlfriend, with whom he shared his life for 10 years. Concerning the latter, she explained on the stand that she broke up with the defendant in 2020, but that the latter had not stopped calling and sending her text messages since.
Implemented by Apple shortly after the release of AirTags, the complainant had receivednotifications from Apple explaining that she was surely being followed. She had not paid attention to these messages thinking of a “bug” in her iPhone.
