Apple is facing another lawsuit, but this one could define the future of AirTags. Two women who were harassed with AirTags filed a class action lawsuit against Apple in a Northern California district court. The plaintiffs cite incidents in which former classmates hid AirTags in a car steering wheel and in a child’s backpack to track his whereabouts and harass them.
Apple introduced AirTags in 2021. They cost $29 and connect to iPhones and iPads via Bluetooth. These small devices are used to locate on a virtual map the location of the objects to which they are attached, whether they are keys, wallets or luggage.
“What sets AirTag apart from any competing product is its unparalleled accuracy, ease of use (it integrates seamlessly into Apple’s suite of products), and affordability,” the lawsuit states, according to NPR. “At just $29, it has become the weapon of choice for harassers and abusers.”
A plaintiff alleges that, after her divorce from her ex-husband, she left an AirTag in her son’s backpack. She tried to disable it, but found another one shortly after. The other plaintiff, identified as Lauren Hughes, said that after breaking up with a man for three months, he began calling her from blocked numbers, created fake profiles to follow her social media accounts and left her threatening voice messages. .
The ordeal is heartbreaking, but it’s not the first of its kind. Since AirTags went on sale, reports of harassment and their use to steal cars have been on the rise. But this time, Apple has been brought to trial on a fairly broad set of allegations.
Accusing Apple of gross negligence, the plaintiffs allege that the company rushed to launch a product without proper guarantees.
The design has also been criticized, as the trackers don’t work as expected, despite Apple’s claim that AirTags are “stalker-proof”. The lawsuit mentions that “AirTag’s design flaw was a substantial factor” in causing the damage.
Lawsuits against Apple
Among the 12 lawsuits facing Apple, the plaintiffs allege that Apple violated their privacy by geo-targeting them, violated state privacy laws and engaged in fraudulent marketing to mislead the public that AirTags are safe. The lawsuit makes clear that “each plaintiff continues to be at risk of unwanted and unlawful tracking via an AirTag device.”
And what is more important, the lawsuit is not limited to claiming Apple for damages, but also asks for injunctive relief, such as that Apple erase all the location data record of the plaintiffs and prevent them from being tracked. tracing.
The plaintiffs allege that the safeguards implemented by Apple are “wretchedly inadequate.” Apple’s own security updates in the past show that it was aware of the shortcomings and was actively trying to fix them as more abusive use cases emerged. The lawsuit also highlights the security imbalance between iPhone users and those using an Android phone: the former can receive notifications that someone is spying on them with an AirTag; the seconds, no.
Harassment is also not prosecuted the same in all states, and in many cases, the victim receives little or no legal protection or support. In such a situation, it is Apple’s responsibility to adopt security measures that prevent this type of incident worldwide.
As of April this year, at least 150 complaints have been filed for alleged misuse of AirTags for harassment purposes. In terms of net sales figures, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple plans to sell 35 million units worldwide. How much can Apple lose?
The lawsuit seeks that all AirTag users in the United States receive compensation that can range from $50 to $1,000. The amount of the agreement will increase depending on the number of members of the group that adhere to the lawsuit.
Assuming it ends up at a loss, Apple is more than capable of spending a few hundred million dollars to fix the problem, and has done so on multiple occasions in the past. But the bigger question is the existence of AirTag, not just as a product, but as a category.
What does this mean for the future of AirTags?
Depending on the outcome and if the states (where the victims live) take an individual fight against Apple for the privacy and security of users, this could call into question the very existence of AirTags as a product category.
Apple is fiercely resistant to protecting an established product like iPhones and Macs from such legal challenges because they generate billions of dollars every year. As for AirTags, they are still in their first generation phase. But the risks they have generated are much more serious and not merely hypothetical.
It would be unwise to speculate that a single court challenge could spell the end of AirTags, but it cannot be ruled out entirely. If the cascading effect spreads to other states and more victims file lawsuits, it could happen. The possibility of an investigation by regulatory agencies, which are increasingly aware of the affairs of big technology companies under the chairmanship of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan, is not ruled out.
Right now, Apple has several options on the table. Wave your magic engineering wand to fix all the bugs, retire millions of units sold and replace them with better (read: more secure) upgrades, or completely rethink your strategy for the next generation of AirTag. Whatever the outcome, this lawsuit will likely be the litmus test for Apple’s coin-sized object tracker.