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Bluetooth trackers and tracking devices are intended to help if items are lost. But they are increasingly being abused for stalking and secret surveillance. This brings politics into the spotlight.
Rüdiger Unterkötter’s entire camera equipment was stolen while on vacation. This shouldn’t happen to him again. That’s why he got a so-called AirTag from Apple. “With an AirTag like that in there, I might have had a chance of finding her again,” believes Unterkötter.
The AirTags are as small as a coin and are intended to help find a lost backpack or key ring by sending a signal via Bluetooth. They connect to nearby smartphones and thus calculate their current position. The owner of the AirTag is then shown where the item is. Other smartphone manufacturers also offer such Bluetooth-based trackers.
Abuse through stalking
But people are also being spied on more and more often. Bavaria and Hamburg are now committed to tightening criminal law against stalking. The two federal states have presented a joint proposal, which the ministers discussed at their autumn conference in Berlin.
They are of the opinion that criminal law has so far only offered inadequate protection against abuse. “The idea of being able to be tracked down at any time, for example by an ex-partner, can have serious psychological and physical consequences for those affected,” said Bavaria’s Justice Minister, Georg Eisenreich (CSU), in the run-up to the conference. “In order to ensure consistent victim protection, we urgently need to tighten up criminal law,” demanded Hamburg Justice Senator Anna Gallina (Greens).
Class action lawsuit in the USA
There is currently a class action lawsuit against Apple in the USA. Almost 40 stalking victims have joined an existing lawsuit against Apple. In some cases, women complain that they have been stalked and followed by their ex-partners. A woman claims that she and her daughter were tracked through an AirTag and then watched and followed. Another woman found a tracker on her son – it was hidden in the sole of his shoes. The stepfather is suspected.
The stalking victims accuse the manufacturer Apple of doing too little to ensure that AirTags can be misused to track other people – and are demanding compensation.
No official figures on stalking
There are no official figures as to how often digital stalking occurs in this country. This is also due to the fact that there have been no major attempts by politicians to deal with the issue, says Inga Pöting from the “A Team Against Digital Violence” project. According to information from advice centers, in cases of stalking it is now “almost always the case that there is also a digital version”. It is about “violence that is shifting into the digital space,” said Pöting.
AirTags are the most well-known trackers; There are also such devices from other providers, for example Samsung. Even Aldi now offers its own trackers.
“When Apple introduced the small AirTags, they of course thought of the positive things: finding things again. They hadn’t thought about misuse,” says ARD-Digital expert Jörg Schieb. “Little by little, Apple developed various technologies and techniques. For example, the AirTags report when they are too far away from your home device, for example my iPhone. This way you can notice that you have an AirTag with you carries around something that doesn’t even belong to you.” The AirTag then emits a warning tone.
Warning app is intended to prevent misuse
Apple has also released a warning app together with its competitor Google. This is intended to expose trackers and protect potential stalking victims. Inga Pöting recommends the “AirGuard” app developed by the Technical University of Darmstadt. It should be able to find AirTags from Apple and SmartTags from Samsung.
“You can simply leave the app running and it will let you know if you are carrying a tracker without knowing it,” says Pöting. “If you see it nearby for a long time, the app will say: ‘Watch out, there’s a tracker on you that you probably don’t want to have.’ And then you can search for it.” However, the solution is not perfect because this app does not always find all trackers, for example if they come from other manufacturers.
Rüdiger Unterkötter, who has just purchased his new AirTag, is not worried that his location could be spied on. He is more concerned with protecting his property. “I want to find thieves, but anything can be misused,” says Unterkötter. This recently worked in a cemetery in Monheim, North Rhine-Westphalia. A flower thief was caught here. An AirTag was hidden in a rose.