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From the iPhone to AirPods, Apple has been the tech giant behind some of the world's most popular products. But not every venture the company churns out turns to gold. Ilan saApple's biggest flops include the Apple III computer of 1980, and Ping, the unsuccessful social media network it tried to roll out in 2010. Now, the tech company is under fire for one of its most recent product pushes. Read on to find out why Apple is dealing with backlash.

Kaugnay:Apple Just Issued This Major Warning for All iPhone and iPad Users.

Apple AirTags potentially pose a major safety risk for users. Vice reported on April 6 that it had obtained police records mentioning AirTags from eight police departments throughout the U.S. for the last eight months. The news outlet received a total of 150 police reports mentioning AirTags, and a majority of these cases dealt with stalking.

Ayon kayVice, less than half mentioned the product in relation to robberies or thefts. Fifty of the cases were from women who called the police because they had received notifications that they were being tracked by an AirTag they didn't own. And of those, 25 women said they could identify a man they knew—whether it was an ex, husband, or boss—who they suspected could have planted an AirTag on their car to follow and harass them, per Vice. The news outlet also reported that a significant number of the reports were from women, as only one case out of the 150 they received involved a man who had suspected that an ex-girlfriend was tracking him with an AirTag.

Apple first unveiled the AirTag in April 2021. According to the company, the small, coin-sized product can easily attach to most surfaces and you can track it through your Find My App. AirTags can ping and send out a Bluetooth signal that can be detected by other nearby devices. But while other tracking softwares have been available long before last year, experts say the size and affordability of AirTags—which costs $29—make them easier to use for stalking by sneaking them onto a car or in a bag.AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB.

"Stalking and stalkerware existed before AirTags, but Apple made it cheaper and easier than ever for abusers and attackers to track their targets," Albert Fox Cahn, the executive director at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, told Vice. "Apple's global device network gives AirTags unique power to stalk around the world. And Apple's massive marketing campaign has helped highlight this type of technology to stalkers and abusers who'd never otherwise know about it."

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Apple has made moves to make this product harder to abuse. When AirTags were first introduced, only people with iPhones or other Apple devices would get notified that an AirTag was following them, according to Vice."That was a completely ridiculous way to launch a new device, without having taken into account its use in a domestic violence situation … specifically, the blind spot that Apple had was people who live outside of the Apple ecosystem," Eva Galperin, the director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told the news outlet.

But in Dec. 2021, Apple released an Android-based app called Tracker Detect, which was designed to help non-Apple users identify AirTags traveling with them, CNET reported. "If you think someone is using AirTag or another device to track your location, you can scan to try to find it," the app tells users.

"AirTag provides industry leading privacy and security features and today we are extending new capabilities to Android devices," an Apple spokesperson said in a statement to CNET at the time. "Tracker Detect gives Android users the ability to scan for an AirTag or supported Find My enabled item trackers that might be traveling with them without their knowledge. We are raising the bar on privacy for our users and the industry, and hope others will follow."

In Feb. 2022, Apple issued a new update sa airtags at "hindi nais na pagsubaybay." Sinabi ng kumpanya na nagtatrabaho ito kasama ang iba't ibang mga grupo ng kaligtasan at mga ahensiyang nagpapatupad ng batas upang makilala ang higit pang mga paraan na maa-update nito ang mga babala sa kaligtasan ng produkto at maiwasan ang mga alalahanin. Ayon sa Apple, kabilang dito ang pakikisosyo sa pagpapatupad ng batas upang masubaybayan ang mga airtags pabalik sa mga perpetrators, bagong mga babala sa privacy sa panahon ng pag-setup ng produkto, pagkahanap ng katumpakan, at mga naunang abiso para sa hindi kilalang airtags.

"Ang Airtag ay dinisenyo upang tulungan ang mga tao na hanapin ang kanilang mga personal na ari-arian, hindi upang subaybayan ang mga tao o ari-arian ng ibang tao, at hinahatulan namin ang pinakamalakas na posibleng mga termino anumang nakakahamak na paggamit ng aming mga produkto," sabi ni Apple. "Ang hindi nais na pagsubaybay ay matagal nang isang problema sa societal, at kinuha namin ang pag-aalala na ito nang seryoso sa disenyo ng airtag. Ito ang dahilan kung bakit ang paghahanap ng aking network ay binuo na may privacy sa isip, gumagamit ng end-to-end na encryption, at kung bakit namin innovated sa unang -Ang proactive system upang alertuhan ka ng hindi kanais-nais na pagsubaybay. "

Kaugnay:Inilabas lamang ng Apple ang babalang ito tungkol sa pinakabagong pag-update ng iPhone.