Apple Faces Lawsuit for Developing a Weapon of Stalkers

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

Apple recently failed its bid to dismiss a lawsuit alleging its AirTag devices help stalkers track their victims.

San Francisco District Judge Vince Chhabria ruled last week that there are three plaintiffs in the lawsuit who made sufficient claims for negligence and product liability. Approximately three dozen women and men who filed the suit claimed that Apple was warned of the risks posed by its AirTags and called for the company to be legally blamed under California law when the tracking devices are used for misconduct.

According to Techxplore, in the three claims that were accepted by the judge, the plaintiffs allege that, when they were stalked, the problems with the AirTag’s safety features were substantial, and that those safety defects caused their injuries.

In allowing the three plaintiffs to pursue their claims, the judge wrote: “Apple may ultimately be right that California law did not require it to do more to diminish the ability of stalkers to use AirTags effectively, but that determination cannot be made at this early stage.”

As part of this case, Apple was accused of negligently releasing the AirTag despite the warnings of experts and advocacy groups that the product would be repurposed for surveillance and stalking. The complaint said: “With a price point of just $29 it has become the weapon of choice of stalkers and abusers.”

Apple had argued in response that it designed the AirTag with “industry-first” safety measures and claimed it shouldn’t be held responsible when the product is misused. A so-called safety measure Apple developed is a feature that alerts users when an AirTag might be tracking them, but the suit claims that this measure as well as several others are simply not enough.

The company “Tile Inc.” is facing similar allegations claiming its tracking devices connected to Amazon’s Bluetooth network lack adequate protections against stalking.