A man was arrested last weekend in the United States for having harassed his ex thanks to an Apple Watch.
AirTags are no longer popular among stalkers, probably because for the past few months, Apple has communicated widely on possible abuses related to its GPS trackers. Following several news items, the brand had also taken the trouble to update its devices, by equipping them with several anti-harassment features. An initiative that had not completely solved the problem, but which seems to have borne fruit: this time, it is with an Apple Watch that an American stalker is accused of having monitored his ex-girlfriend’s car.
According to website information WSMV, police reportedly arrested Lawrence Welch, a 29-year-old man from Tennessee, last Friday. The latter is notably accused of having stalked his former girlfriend. While searching the young woman’s car, the police finally discovered an Apple Watch identified as that of the suspect, attached to one of the vehicle’s tires.
According to the statements of the victim, Lawrence Welch would not really be at his first attempt. Already subject to a restraining order for death threats and domestic violence, the suspect is said to have previously used tracking devices to keep tabs on his ex-girlfriend’s whereabouts. According to the first elements of the investigation, the connected watch would have been placed on the car a few days before the intervention of the police, when the two protagonists had an appointment at the Family Service Center in Murfreesboro Pike to be heard by a mediator. legal.
Regulating AirTags is no longer enough
This news item — a priori — isolated, still questions about the dangers associated with geolocation. Apple’s AirTags have been widely publicized in recent months, but with a little imagination, all connected objects can actually be used as GPS beacons to trace the whereabouts of a target without their consent. For the technological giants, it will therefore be a question of quickly finding a solution to this thorny problem.
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