Tile is now offering its clients a new way to make its trackers more difficult for criminals to discover. Nevertheless, since doing so makes it simpler for stalkers to monitor people without their permission, the corporation demands authentication using a government ID and biometric information before activating the capability. If someone is discovered using them to stalk, Tile’s terms and conditions will fine them $1 million.
The growth in popularity of Bluetooth trackers after the release of Apple’s AirTag has highlighted the seeming zero-sum balance between theft and stalking avoidance. Stalking prevention techniques, such as generating a sound when the tracker is following someone who isn’t its owner, may help criminals identify they are being followed (and quickly dispose of the accessory). If such safeguards are removed in order to increase the effectiveness of theft deterrent, creeps will have an easier time tracking their ex-lovers or anybody else unfortunate enough to be their target.
The simple fact is that a smart locating gadget is also an excellent stalking device,” Life360 (Tile’s parent firm) CEO Chris Hulls said on Wednesday in a Medium blog post. “It’s almost hard to fine-tune notifications in a manner that balances the demand for accuracy with timeliness. Furthermore, making notifications or alarm noises audible enough in any practical context is extremely challenging – it is sometimes difficult to hear an AirTag beep in a quiet room, much alone a bar or club where a stalker may be present.”
Tile’s answer seeks the sweet spot. The Anti-Theft Mode function would render the gadgets invisible to Scan and Secure, the company’s in-app tool that notifies you if any Tiles are following you. However, in order to activate the new Anti-Theft Mode, the Tile owner must verify their real identity with a government-issued ID, submit a biometric scan that aids in the detection of fake IDs, agree to allow Tile to share their information with law enforcement, and agree to pay a $1 million fine if convicted in a court of law of using Tile for criminal activity. Thus while it theoretically makes the gadget simpler for stalkers to use Tiles quietly, it makes the cost of doing so high enough to (at least in principle) dissuade them from attempting.
Hulls thinks the technique outperforms Apple’s AirTag system, which produces a sound and alerts iPhone users that one of the trackers is following them. (Android users must download a different app to get comparable notifications.) “We ran our own limited internal testing (see findings here) to determine how soon AirTags would notify when tracking someone who was not their owner, and the results were unsatisfactory,” Hulls added. According to the CEO, tracking participants got their initial “an AirTag is travelling with you” signal between one to 24 hours of walking or driving — and sometimes not for many days.
Tile will “make available, to the fullest degree legally feasible, any data concerning any incidents of abuse of Tile devices that have been Anti-Theft activated,” according to Hull. Lastly, although I am certain that the figures will support our hypothesis, if we are proven incorrect, we will reverse direction and publicly apologise.”
