Two ladies have filed a category motion go well with towards Apple alleging the tech big’s AirTags are “unreasonably harmful” merchandise that can be utilized by stalkers.
The 2 ladies – Lauren Hughes of Travis County, Texas, and an unidentified girl in Kings County, New York (designated as “Jane Doe”) – filed the go well with Monday in U.S. District Court docket for the Northern District of California.
The ladies say they filed the go well with on behalf of all those that have been tracked with out consent by AirTags, asking the court docket to search out Apple responsible of negligence, product legal responsibility and violating privateness rights, along with different client violations. “The advantages of Apple’s AirTag design don’t outweigh the dangers of the design,” the go well with reads.
Tech ideas:These apps and units will assist relieve your vacation stress
HBO Max:Streaming service now again on Amazon Prime Video Channels after yearlong dispute
Apple introduced the AirTags, battery-powered units in regards to the measurement of 1 / 4, to market final yr as a strategy to preserve monitor of your keys, purse, backpack and different belongings. Bluetooth connections on Apple smartphones and different units “see” the AirTags and provide help to discover them utilizing Apple’s Discover My app.
However the ladies, who say they’ve been and stay liable to being tracked by AirTags, accuse Apple of failing “to adequately disclose the dangers related to the AirTag … (and) affirmatively misled the general public and the press as to these dangers.”
The grievance chronicles some instances during which stalkers used AirTags to trace somebody. In a single case an Indiana girl, who tracked her boyfriend over a suspected affair, ran him over and killed him in June 2022.
Within the go well with, Lauren Hughes mentioned that after ending a three-month relationship she was stalked on-line and located an AirTag hidden on her automobile. Plaintiff Jane Doe mentioned that after “a contentious divorce,” she discovered an AirTag in her kid’s backpack. She eliminated it and shortly it was changed, she mentioned.
Earlier this yr, Apple launched a private security information for AirTags, together with a Tracker Detect app for Android units, to deal with issues about individuals being tracked with out their data.
However the lawsuit claims Apple’s measures “are woefully insufficient, and do little, if something, to promptly warn people if they’re being tracked.”
“Furthermore, there’s a gross imbalance between the protections accessible to iOS/Apple customers, versus these accessible to people with Android units – rendering Android customers almost defenseless to monitoring/stalking utilizing an AirTag,” the lawsuit says.
Apple didn’t instantly reply to USA TODAY’s request for remark.
