Apple Sued in the US Over AirTag Leading to Murder
Situation Differs in Korea Due to Limited Map Services Provided
[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunjung Lee]
AirTag is a Bluetooth device introduced by Apple last year. It is a tracking device that can be attached to personal belongings to check their location via an iPhone or other Apple devices when lost. It has a design resembling a Go stone and weighs 11g. To find belongings with an AirTag attached, you can set the AirTag to emit a sound. It is very useful if you often lose your car keys or Bluetooth earphones inside the house.
The core technology is UWB (Ultra Wideband). UWB transmits large amounts of data over a wide frequency band with low power compared to existing frequency bands. Although satellite GPS can find locations on a map, it is difficult to determine precise indoor locations. Bluetooth-based location detection takes 2 seconds, but UWB is known to be a thousand times faster.
The problem arose when claims surfaced that AirTags have been used as stalking tools in the United States, even leading to murder.
According to Bloomberg on the 6th (local time), American women A and B filed a lawsuit against Apple on the 5th, claiming damages because their ex-boyfriend and separated husband tracked their locations using AirTags, causing harm. They also claimed that tracking via AirTags led to murder. In Akron, Ohio, a woman was shot by her ex-boyfriend who had been tracking her using an AirTag, and in Indianapolis, Indiana, a woman stated that her ex-boyfriend installed an AirTag in her car and then hit her with the vehicle.
In July, an AirTag was found in a police investigation vehicle in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The vehicle is known to be used by police handling drug or organized crime cases, and Japanese police launched an investigation, suspecting someone installed the AirTag to monitor investigation activities.
Apple has equipped AirTags with notification features to prevent misuse for stalking. For iPhone users, if an AirTag not linked to their device follows them, they receive a notification on their iPhone. However, if a Galaxy Tag is attached, there is no way to know, as AirTags only connect with Apple devices.
Fortunately, the situation is different in Korea. In the case of Google Maps, many services are very limited for Korean maps. Location guidance using AirTags is possible through Apple’s 'Find My' service, but this function cannot load Korean maps. This is because, under current law, domestic map data cannot be exported overseas (to foreign companies) without permission from the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Therefore, stalking using AirTags is impossible in Korea.
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