The world would be better if tracking devices did not exist. It's a shame you've decided to actively reject anti-stalking features.
When we launched our anti-theft feature, we were clear that if we found there was widespread abuse, we would change course. We have had literally zero complaints of anyone being stalked with a device where anti-theft was enabled.
And I think you are misunderstanding the new standards. Google and Apple will proactively notify thieves of nearby trackers, and allow a thief to disable it. This is next level bad for anyone relying on their tracking device to protect against theft.
What is the data that would change your mind? I would change my mind if we found that more than .1% of our customers were abusing this feature.
I could see this being used in the aggregate to ascertain drop off points or chop shops, but at an individual level it doesn’t stop your stuff from being stolen. Even the aggregate case requires buy in from law enforcement to actually act on the information which is not a small thing.
First, it's highly likely that someone being stalked wouldn't realize a tile device was the cause. Secondly, you said Tile and Life360 are on only 12% of devices. So maybe 1 out of 10 stalkers will be successful in using your device to stalk. That's not enough data to state so conclusively that this doesn't happen. I'm sure if Tile was more popular (and thus more functional) and more stalkers knew they were the best devices for stalking, they would use them.
I carefully examined life360.com, trying to put myself in the shoes of somebody who was stalked, magically divined that life360 was involved, and wanted to report the issue. The extent of my options on life360.com are:
1. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
And that's it. There does not exist a "contact us" or other general mechanism, and there certainly does not exist an abuse reporting mechanism. If that happens to exist behind other filters or paywalls then it's not relevant when discussing how the average customer would interact with your website.
With that in mind, I would expect an exactly 0% abuse rate regardless of how abusive your product actually is. You confirm that number. I'm not surprised.
The ball is in your court. How do you prove to the world that you _actually_ care about abuse? How _should_ a real abusee interact with your website? Why isn't it obvious? What are the exact numbers? And so on...
We encourage people to first go to the police, and we work with law enforcement to help bring criminals to justice on a regular basis.
Think about it for a second. If anyone could contact a tech company to get people's information based on a serial number, this would be abused by people who could steal your phone, airpods, or bag containing an airtag, claim to be stalked, contact the manufacturer directly, and get your home address from the manufacturer by giving them the serial number.
"If you feel your safety is at risk, you can contact your local law enforcement, who can work with Apple. You might need to provide the AirTag or its serial number."
https://support.apple.com/guide/personal-safety/stay-safe-wi...
You give the location of your missing property to the Police when stolen.
Tile/Life360 is now a superior product while AirTags are basically useless paperweight.
If you want to stalk someone you have always had numerous options including superior gps/cell based trackers.
They will do nothing.
It's a shame that stalking is a concern. It's a shame that this had to be implemented and effectively breaks the devices use case for most people. But I'm not even mad at Apple or Google, because I also think that it is their responsibility to protect people from being stalked.
Tile is also not an option for me, in Europe pretty much no one uses it. I will still try my luck with Apple and Google/Pebblebee Tags. Does anyone have experience how long it takes until you get notified about a tracker moving with you?
A potential car thief doesn't know if your car has an alarm on it either, but he just assumes that it does because most do. With wide enough adoption of these devices, it could work out the same.