What you must know
- Apple and Google have introduced a brand new partnership that goals to handle undesirable location monitoring.
- The businesses have launched a draft specification on greatest practices for firms creating location trackers.
- Apple’s AirTag and different location trackers have been criticized for permitting customers to stalk others.
Location trackers are extremely helpful for folks vulnerable to dropping their objects. Nevertheless, they’ll additionally pose safety dangers as they can be utilized to stalk different individuals who unknowingly have a tracker hidden on their particular person. This turned an even bigger downside with the introduction of the AirTag, and each Apple and Google are working collectively to handle the issue.
Apple introduced (opens in new tab) on Tuesday that the 2 firms have come collectively to draft a specification to offer greatest practices for firms making location trackers. This could enable each iOS and Android telephones to detect and alert customers of undesirable trackers of their neighborhood.
“Bluetooth trackers have created great consumer advantages, however in addition they carry the potential of undesirable monitoring, which requires industrywide motion to unravel,” says Dave Burke, Google’s vp of Engineering for Android.
In actual fact, firms resembling Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, eufy Safety, and Pebblebee have “expressed help” for the draft, which incorporates suggestions from producers and security advocacy teams. Apple and Google plan to assessment feedback and suggestions collected over the following few months, with plans to have the specification prepared by the tip of 2023. It’ll then be applied in future variations of Android and iOS.
Undesirable monitoring has been a downside earlier than AirTags got here into the image, however the class exploded in recognition with the launch of Apple’s tracker, which solely highlighted the issue with location trackers. Samsung additionally launched its personal tracker, and Google has been rumored to have one within the works. Steps have been made to assist customers keep away from undesirable monitoring, together with a devoted AirTag app for Android.
“A key ingredient to lowering misuse is a common, OS-level answer that is ready to detect trackers made by totally different firms on the number of smartphones that folks use day by day,” says Alexandra Reeve Givens, president and CEO of the Heart for Democracy & Know-how, “We commend Apple and Google for his or her partnership and dedication to creating a uniform answer to enhance detectability.”
