Two sources in federal and state law enforcement have told this masthead that AirTags, as well as other cheap commercially available GPS systems, have become standard tools for criminal syndicates to discover whether cocaine and methamphetamine shipments have been compromised in anti-drug operations.
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“Every AirTag has a unique serial number, and paired AirTags are associated with an Apple ID. Apple can provide the paired account details in response to a subpoena or valid request from law enforcement,” Apple’s 2022 statement said.
Apple has resisted pressure to scan the iCloud for exploitative material. A spokesman pointed to a letter that the company sent to an advocacy group this year, expressing concern about the “security and privacy of our users” and reports “that innocent parties have been swept into dystopian dragnets.”
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“We do not want our platforms to be used to endanger or exploit children, and there’s a widespread demand that internet platforms take the firmest action to detect and prevent CSAM,” [Google] said in a statement, using a widely used acronym for child sexual abuse material. “In this case, we understand that the violative content was not uploaded maliciously.” The company had no response for how to escalate a denial of an appeal beyond emailing a Times reporter.
People are ingesting too much negative news, and it’s not only affecting them personally but impacting society at large. People can handle some bad news, but what if it’s a lot of bad news? And what if a lot of people are doing this while trying to function in the world together?
These past few years, I have been consciously reducing the amount of news-scrolling that I can do daily. I've quit Twitter before quitting Twitter was popular. And I've trimmed my RSS feeds to make sure that on most days, I can finish reading my news feed during my commute.
The days when I can't finish my news feed before I reach office (or my home computer during work-from-home days) are usually when Apple has keynotes.
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Thanks for reading.