Photo: Apple
Modern-day stalkers turn to new-generation technology for their nefarious purposes, and unfortunately, Apple learned the whole thing the hard way.
The company’s AirTag, which was launched specifically to let users keep track of their belongings, such as wallets and car keys, ended up becoming stalkers’ favorite tool to monitor the location of their victims.
And while the Cupertino-based tech giant released a series of tweaks to make it harder for the GPS tracker to be used for such malicious ideas, it looks like another Apple product can sometimes double as a stalking weapon.
29-year-old Lawrence Welch from Nashville turned to an Apple Watch to monitor the location of his girlfriend. Welch and his girlfriend previously used dedicated tracking software to see each other’s location in real-time, but the woman eventually shut down the app when visiting Family Safety Centers.
After threatening to kill her, the man decided to plant an Apple Watch in the wheel of her car and therefore use the same software, this time installed on his phone and the smartwatch, to monitor her location.
He was eventually arrested by the police when he arrived at a local Family Safety Center, where he was caught looking for the Apple Watch around the wheel of the vehicle.
Unfortunately, such stories show that technology that is otherwise developed with a good goal in mind ends up being misused, eventually ruining the entire experience for everybody out there. If this becomes a trend, Apple might once again have no other option than to implement additional privacy protections to make sure its smartwatch isn’t being used for stalking.
On the other hand, this is just an isolated incident, and the number of cases where Apple Watches are being used for stalking is still very small. Fortunately, the device can’t even be used for such nefarious purposes, given its limited battery life.
And while the Cupertino-based tech giant released a series of tweaks to make it harder for the GPS tracker to be used for such malicious ideas, it looks like another Apple product can sometimes double as a stalking weapon.
29-year-old Lawrence Welch from Nashville turned to an Apple Watch to monitor the location of his girlfriend. Welch and his girlfriend previously used dedicated tracking software to see each other’s location in real-time, but the woman eventually shut down the app when visiting Family Safety Centers.
After threatening to kill her, the man decided to plant an Apple Watch in the wheel of her car and therefore use the same software, this time installed on his phone and the smartwatch, to monitor her location.
He was eventually arrested by the police when he arrived at a local Family Safety Center, where he was caught looking for the Apple Watch around the wheel of the vehicle.
Unfortunately, such stories show that technology that is otherwise developed with a good goal in mind ends up being misused, eventually ruining the entire experience for everybody out there. If this becomes a trend, Apple might once again have no other option than to implement additional privacy protections to make sure its smartwatch isn’t being used for stalking.
On the other hand, this is just an isolated incident, and the number of cases where Apple Watches are being used for stalking is still very small. Fortunately, the device can’t even be used for such nefarious purposes, given its limited battery life.
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