{"id":21897,"date":"2023-05-02T08:30:24","date_gmt":"2023-05-02T16:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2023\/05\/02\/news-15628\/"},"modified":"2023-05-02T08:30:24","modified_gmt":"2023-05-02T16:30:24","slug":"news-15628","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2023\/05\/02\/news-15628\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple, Google team up to tackle Bluetooth tracker-stalking terror"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The days when people can be abusively tracked using devices such as Apple’s AirTags may be numbered; both Apple and Google today jointly announced<\/a>\u00a0work on a new standard that will prevent this from happening and hinted that Android users will soon be able to tell whether they\u2019re being tracked by an AirTag.<\/p>\n

The two companies say they have been working on a new industry specification to help prevent Bluetooth location-tracking devices being used to track people without permission. They also seem to have the industry behind them, as Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, eufy Security, and Pebblebee have all expressed support for the draft specification, which has been filed with the Internet Engineering Task Force<\/a>\u00a0(IETF).<\/p>\n

The idea is to make it possible for iOS and Android smartphones to detect unauthorized Bluetooth tracking devices to protect individuals against unwanted surveillance. In addition to incorporating feedback from device manufacturers, input from various safety and advocacy groups has been integrated into the development of the specification.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Erica Olsen, senior director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence<\/a>\u2019s Safety Net Project said in a statement: \u201cThese new standards will minimize opportunities for abuse of this technology and decrease the burden on survivors in detecting unwanted trackers.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the same statement, Alexandra Reeve Givens, the Center for Democracy & Technology<\/a>\u2019s president and CEO, explained that one of the keys to protecting against this kind of abuse is, \u201ca universal, OS-level solution that is able to detect trackers made by different companies on the variety of smartphones that people use every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ever since Apple introduced AirTags<\/a> the ether has been populated by horrific tales<\/a> of various unpleasant uses of the tracking devices. While these devices are great because they link to Apple\u2019s FindMy network<\/a> and make it really easy to locate lost or stolen devices (NYPD recently gave away\u00a0500 of them<\/a>\u00a0to help protect against car crime), some have abused them to track people in malicious ways.<\/p>\n

These have ranged from car thieves tracking vehicles they intend to steal to abusive partners monitoring their victims. Apple has responded in several ways, including better warnings for iPhone users in the event they have an unknown tag moving with them. That system will alert you if a tag is found<\/a>. But none of these protections are completely foolproof, and some are platform specific \u2014 the warnings an iPhone user sees are not shared with Android, for example.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s part of what the specification tries to solve. It will allow Bluetooth location-tracking devices to be compatible with unauthorized tracking detection and alerts across iOS and Android platforms. The draft specification also offers best practices and instructions for manufacturers, should they choose to build these capabilities into their products.<\/p>\n

It means that you\u2019ll be able to use AirTags and other Bluetooth tracking devices to track your items, not to track people.<\/p>\n

\u201cApple launched AirTag to give users the peace of mind knowing where to find their most important items,\u201d said Ron Huang, Apple\u2019s vice president of sensing and connectivity. \u201cWe built AirTag and the Find My network with a set of proactive features to discourage unwanted tracking \u2014 a first in the industry \u2014 and we continue to make improvements to help ensure the technology is being used as intended.<\/p>\n

“This new industry specification builds upon the AirTag protections, and through collaboration with Google results in a critical step forward to help combat unwanted tracking across iOS and Android,”\u00a0Huang said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBluetooth trackers have created tremendous user benefits, but they also bring the potential of unwanted tracking, which requires industry-wide action to solve,\u201d said Dave Burke, Google\u2019s vice president of engineering for Android. \u201cAndroid has an unwavering commitment to protecting users, and will continue to develop strong safeguards and collaborate with the industry to help combat the misuse of Bluetooth tracking devices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, part of the reason Apple, Google and the industry have agreed to work together is because they recognize that until individual privacy is protected few are likely to adopt these technologies. But manufacturers of connected devices want to nurture this adoption as they attempt to add features to their products.<\/p>\n

The specification process works like this, nowthat \u00a0the draft has been submitted to the IETF.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t yet clear whether we can anticipate the specification being finalized and shipping as an OS update to supported platforms by the end of this year or in 2024, though if the standardizing process works well, perhaps it’s not too long before another stalking nightmare is terminated.<\/p>\n

Please follow me on\u00a0Mastodon<\/a>, or join me in the\u00a0AppleHolic\u2019s bar & grill<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>Apple<\/em>\u00a0Discussions<\/em><\/a>\u00a0groups on MeWe.<\/em><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.computerworld.com\/category\/security\/index.rss<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\n
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The days when people can be abusively tracked using devices such as Apple’s AirTags may be numbered; both Apple and Google today jointly announced<\/a>\u00a0work on a new standard that will prevent this from happening and hinted that Android users will soon be able to tell whether they\u2019re being tracked by an AirTag.<\/p>\n

Got to stop tracker abuse<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The two companies say they have been working on a new industry specification to help prevent Bluetooth location-tracking devices being used to track people without permission. They also seem to have the industry behind them, as Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, eufy Security, and Pebblebee have all expressed support for the draft specification, which has been filed with the Internet Engineering Task Force<\/a>\u00a0(IETF).<\/p>\n

To read this article in full, please click here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[11062,10643],"tags":[2211,1670,10480,8826,714],"class_list":["post-21897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computerworld","category-independent","tag-apple","tag-google","tag-ios","tag-iphone","tag-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}