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The IT giants Apple and Google want to prevent the misuse of small Bluetooth tracking devices for unwanted tracking of people with a joint initiative. The proposal for an industry standard across the Android and iOS mobile platforms will also be supported by other relevant manufacturers such as Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, eufy Security and Pebblebee, the companies announced on Tuesday. In recent months, there have been repeated reports of incidents in which Apple’s AirTags or other Bluetooth trackers have been used to track people against their will.
Apple introduced some security measures to prevent stalking by AirTags. For example, foreign AirTags that are in the vicinity of another person for a while will emit a warning tone. In addition, the potential victims of persecution receive instructions on the iPhone on how to deactivate the foreign AirTag in their vicinity. However, this anti-stalking protection only works if everyone involved is using an iPhone. That should change now.
“This new industry standard builds on AirTag’s defenses and, in collaboration with Google, is a critical step forward in combating unwanted tracking on iOS and Android,” said Ron Huang, Apple’s vice president of Sensing and Connectivity. The specification was submitted through the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), a leading organization for developing standards on the Internet. Interested companies can review and comment on the draft over the next three months. Apple and Google then want to publish an implementation of the standard in production for unwanted tracking warnings by the end of 2023, which will then be supported in future versions of the iOS and Android mobile operating systems.
Source: Nachrichten
