NYPD Urges Citizens To Buy AirTags To Fight Surge In Car Thefts (arstechnica.com) 115
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The New York Police Department (NYPD) and New York City's self-proclaimed computer geek of a mayor are urging resident car owners to equip their vehicles with an Apple AirTag. During a press conference on Sunday, Mayor Eric Adams announced the distribution of 500 free AirTags to New Yorkers, saying the technology would aid in reducing the city's surging car theft numbers. Adams held the press conference at the 43rd precinct in the Bronx, where he said there had been 200 instances of grand larceny of autos. An NYPD official said that in New York City, 966 Hyundais and Kias have been stolen this year thus far, already surpassing 2022's 819 total. The NYPD's public crime statistics tracker says there have been 4,492 vehicle thefts this year, a 13.3 percent increase compared to the same period last year and the largest increase among NYC's seven major crime categories.
Adams, as the city did when announcing litigation against Kia and Hyundai on April 7, largely blamed the rise in car thefts on Kia and Hyundai, which he said are "leading the way" in stolen car brands. Hyundais and Kias were the subjects of the Kia Challenge TikTok trend that encouraged people to jack said vehicles with a mere USB-A cable. The topic has graduated way beyond a social media fad and into a serious concern. [...] Adams was adamant grand larceny auto numbers were dragging the city's overall crime numbers up and urged New Yorkers to "participate" in the fight against car theft by using an AirTag. NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said users who report a stolen vehicle equipped with an AirTag will see the police use "drones, our StarChase technology & good old fashion police work to safely recover your stolen car."
"Help us help you, get an AirTag," he tweeted.
Adams, as the city did when announcing litigation against Kia and Hyundai on April 7, largely blamed the rise in car thefts on Kia and Hyundai, which he said are "leading the way" in stolen car brands. Hyundais and Kias were the subjects of the Kia Challenge TikTok trend that encouraged people to jack said vehicles with a mere USB-A cable. The topic has graduated way beyond a social media fad and into a serious concern. [...] Adams was adamant grand larceny auto numbers were dragging the city's overall crime numbers up and urged New Yorkers to "participate" in the fight against car theft by using an AirTag. NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said users who report a stolen vehicle equipped with an AirTag will see the police use "drones, our StarChase technology & good old fashion police work to safely recover your stolen car."
"Help us help you, get an AirTag," he tweeted.
Cat/mouse/cat/mouse? (Score:1)
If everyone has an AirTag in their car, wouldn't that just lead to better tools for thieves to detect and remove them?
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Re: Cat/mouse/cat/mouse? (Score:2)
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So the actual thieves are not to blame? There is something wrong with this system.
Welcome to modern day Progressive government.
Re: Cat/mouse/cat/mouse? (Score:5, Informative)
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If I remember right, BT changes freqs 1600 times per second... Still doesn't help my laptop stay connected to my "kick" speaker 2 feet away when I rest my hand on the wrong spot! :)
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Jamming Bluetooth is pretty hard, and would be very obvious.
My experience of developing BLE was it just crapped out in crowded places, i.e. places with lots of phones chirping bluetooth stuff all over the place. Though I could pick up advertisements, just couldn't connect. So that's probably enough. Even so that wasn't a blocking effort.
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Jamming Bluetooth is pretty hard, and would be very obvious.
One truth and one lie.
The lie is that it is difficult. It is not: spark gap
The truth is that it is indeed VERY obvious as ALL electronic communication will stop. In fact, if the energy applied is great enough, it can even stop communications internal to the device itself.
Re:Cat/mouse/cat/mouse? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, but at least it helps to shift the responsibility for the stolen car from the police to the owners...
Who blames the police when their car is stolen?
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I would say not enough people, obviously.
In an environment where stealing cars is normalized? I would maybe blame the police.
In an environment where the police say "not our job, use a tracker"? I would maybe blame the police.
The problem here is seeing the forest for the trees. It is the job of the police not only to find stolen cars, but also to not allow the problem to grow out of control. In TFA however the police basically say that cars are being stolen left and right, and that they don't give a fsck abo
Re:Cat/mouse/cat/mouse? (Score:4, Interesting)
I cannot really find any numbers to show that violent crime is up in a meaningful way. Murder is, yes, or at least it was in 2020. Later number are... hard to come by, and I don't really care to go looking for it very deep. But violent crime in general has been below 400 per 100k people for over ten years now, with a minor exception in 2020 also. There might be a small rising trend maybe - around 5 points over a 5 year period. But the variance in the last 5 year period was 20, and in the previous period it was 35, so one per year does not lend for any meaningful conclusions.
In any case, the current 400 is way below the 758 it was in 1991, and also, the last time it was below 400 was back in 1970... You did not hear it here first, but this rise and fall has been correlated with leaded gasoline use, and lead poisoning is a known cause for higher levels of violence.
But if you think you can vote to change policy, i have news for you. Check out this paper http://doi.org/10.1017/S153759... [doi.org]
Basically, in the US voter preference has no effect on policy. Zero. Nada. Zilch. Only money does. And it could not be any different in our late stage democracy society. Who pays the campaign money that gets politicians in the office? Business does. So when the politician gets into the office, who will they work for? For the voter, who has no memory of things past, who either always votes for the same party, or who can be persuaded by empty promises and retarded ad campaigns? Or will they work for the business that will take note of what they got for their investment, and whose money the politician will need again in the next election season?
So the next time you find yourself thinking that things would be better if only the right party was in power, think again. You are getting fscked from both ends, and those who bankroll the show laugh all the way to the bank. But I guess we can explain the rise in murder with partisan politics. People in the US have been manufactured to believe the voters of the other party are at fault for everything, and actually evil incarnate really. So when life gets tough, it emerges that the barrier of entry to postal land has been lowered significantly...
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Murder is the only crime stat that matters. The others can be easily gamed. You obviously live nowhere near a big American city if you think that cRIME iS d0WN.
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First you were concerned about violent crime. So when I disputed you on that, you decided that you are actually concerned about murder. This is known as moving the goalposts, and in a debate this is generally considered cheating. Which it really is, because you end up throwing random stuff in the air to distract from the fact that nothing sticks.
You are right in that I live nowhere near a big American city, but I did my best to look up what is going on. And while I'm not saying crime is down, I'm not sayin
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Oh right, I see your other bit of "evidence": "crime was higher in the 80s therefore modern day policies can't be wrong". Highly insightful of course.
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St. Louis, Missouri (R)
Mobile, Alabama (R)
Birmingham, Alabama (R)
Baltimore, Maryland (D)
Memphis, Tennessee (R)
Detroit, Michigan (D)
Cleveland, Ohio (R)
New Orleans, Louisiana (R)
Shreveport, Louisiana (R)
Baton Rouge, Louisiana (R)
Little
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If you think Memphis and St Louis are run by Republicans then you know fuck all about America.
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Not just car crime (Score:2)
https://www.leefang.com/p/poli... [leefang.com]
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But back to reality now.
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Obviously, the police are underfunded, understaffed, and underappreciated, and have an enormous job just to keep the roads and streets just barely safe. I'm not going to shit all over the cops who are actually doing their job, which, at this point, I think, is the good majority of them.
But, the ones who attempt to enforce unconstitutional and therefore legally unenforceable "gun laws," I sorta do blame them. Because if people were allowed to defend themselves and other innocents and their property, there
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You don't really want an AirTag/LoJack (Score:5, Interesting)
This was always a scam from way back.
I got LoJack installed because I lived in a high theft area and wanted to protect my car.
When it got stolen and COMPLETELY stripped, it was still found (just a few hours later after being stolen) due to the LoJack.
Then the ordeal really started. Insurance didn't want to total it, and they also dragged their feet in getting it fixed, etc. Couldn't buy a new car in the meantime while this one was in limbo. This went on for about a year (before they finally agreed to "fix" it).
Moral of the story is, if your car gets stolen, you probably don't want it back (or found). All you are doing is helping the insurance companies (and theft numbers for police) and hurting yourself...if the vehicle is gone you get reimbursed, can just get on with life and get a new vehicle.
Don't make it easy for them; make the police actively deter theft instead of trying to protect themselves and insurance after you've already been harmed.
Re:You don't really want an AirTag/LoJack (Score:4)
It sounds like LoJack worked exactly as advertised, but you have crappy insurance. That's not LoJack's fault!
sigh (Score:2)
Adjusters are used to dealing with crash or comp damage, like a flood. The nice thing about those kind of losses is that if you get a hit in a particular location, it's pretty obvious what needs to be done and the 'hidden damage' has a rhyme or reason to it. Even then, a Corvette with a fiberglas body, for instance, often requires many supplementals because say, all of the fiberglas anchors got sheared off and need repair/replacement. This takes a while because the insurer won't pay for anything you can'
Re:sigh (Score:4, Insightful)
An insurance company that doesn't total a stripped car, and takes a year to complete the claim, is an incompetent or dishonest insurance company.
Re: sigh (Score:2)
Re: sigh (Score:4, Informative)
It is possible to find good car insurance companies. Do your homework, check out Consumer Reports. Good insurers do exist.
https://www.consumerreports.or... [consumerreports.org]
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lol, no they don't. There's a difference between cheap insurance and good insurance. The latter doesn't really exist because assessors will always nickel-and-dime claims to reduce payouts as much as possible and keep their shareholders happy.
At the end of the day all forms of insurance are government-approved shakedown operations, skimming money from society to the benefit of shareholders, and mathematically people are better off putting their insurance premiums into interest-bearing savings accounts.
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If you understand the rules of the game, you can benefit from insurance. Ironically, property damage (PD) insurance is probably the most legit form of same, my father did lit for insurers and then was an independent adjuster for many years. His saying was "claims don't go away by themselves" and he was right. You have to pay them ultimately - whether it is now or later, and it'll cost more later in most cases.
If you want to see real games, try the life insurance racket or reinsurance. Or investigate how
Re: You don't really want an AirTag/LoJack (Score:4, Insightful)
You should have gotten rental car coverage. This means that the insurance is paying for a rental the entire time they are dragging their feet. So either they total it or order it repaired, either way, either you get a new car much sooner than 1 year or for a year you put zero miles on a car.
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You should have gotten rental car coverage. This means that the insurance is paying for a rental the entire time they are dragging their feet. So either they total it or order it repaired, either way, either you get a new car much sooner than 1 year or for a year you put zero miles on a car.
Been through this - once the insurance company makes their lowball offer, and you refuse, the rental car coverage ends even if you are still inside their rental coverage window. They have all the leverage.
Police don't deter crime (Score:3)
Hypothetical question (Score:1)
Education and social programs deter a crime. Just like it's not a cop's job to protect you it's not their job to stop crime. Their job is to make sure that the day-to-day operation of the economy continues without incident. Otherwise known as enforcing laws. But that's not the same as stopping crime.
Hypothetical question.
Taking violent crime as a specific case, suppose we reduce the police in an area and found that violent crime went up.
Would you be willing to revise your opinion if the previous statement were found true?
Just asking.
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Why is the USA the only developed country with a mass shooting problem?
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Because Jesus?
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That's a reasonable question. If "prevalence of firearms" were the major contributing factor, the Swiss would be dying in droves--and yet they are not, suggesting that the inanimate object isn't really the problem. My unfortunately conclusion is that Americans are a violent people by nature (you need look no further than our entertainment to see that). I have no idea how you solve that problem.
Switzerland has strict gun control (Score:2)
We could stop about half of all shootings tomorrow by taking guns away from domestic abusers.... but we'd also lose half our police force.
We're not violent by nature, we're made that way by our political and economic system. Switzerland puts every man in the army. For a country like America that uses it's army for empire building that won't really work (it's one thing to send dirt poor volunteers to die for oil, it's another to do that with upper middle class boys), but it does have the huge
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We could stop about half of all shootings tomorrow by taking guns away from domestic abusers
This has been the law for 25 years. A misdemeanor conviction for any type of domestic abuse crime results in a federally mandated lifetime ban on the ownership of firearms. While I personally don't believe a misdemeanor conviction should be grounds for the lifetime removal of a right, it is nontheless the law.
Further, your number is an absurdity. More than half of "gun deaths" are suicides. Even if we assume by "shootings" you meant "murder", finding cause is difficult, because those statistics largely do
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"War on drugs," racial tension, and widespread contempt for Law. All of which are related.
Also, we're not the only country with mass shootings. Latin America is far worse in that regard, and they happen almost everywhere, although the ones that do happen here are always publicized (but the MANY lives saved by defensive firearm use are not) for obvious political reasons.
What widespread contempt for law? (Score:2)
Seriously, Americans are on the whole very law abiding. But we're also treated like shit. Push a man too far and shit happens. Given how bad we treat people it's only borderline sainthood that
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Sorry but you are completely out of your mind thinking that. There innumerable cases of police in the United States preventing crimes, either by being present to prevent it or responding in time to halt crimes in progress. The great tragedies occur when police are not present or when they can not/will not respond in time.
They do not exist merely to protect "the economy".
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Police in the US have no legal obligation to help or protect you if the situation seems dangerous.
https://www.findlaw.com/legalb... [findlaw.com]
Certain policing activities are profitable for police (civil asset forfeiture), others are not
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Police in the US have no legal obligation to help or protect you if the situation seems dangerous.
This is entirely true. It's also entirely true that "when seconds count, the police are only minutes away."
With that said, just because there is no legal obligation to "protect and serve" does not mean that most police forces do not do exactly that. In the recent shooting in Nashville, from the time police arrived on scene until they stopped the shooter was around three minutes (which included parking the car, getting gear together, and doing a good job of clearing the building). Those guys were all about
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Education and social programs deter a crime....
In a roundabout and general way, perhaps. Lead is a lot more direct, and impresses the criminal on the scene.
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Putting shitheads in prison deters crime. Progressive policies are nothing more than politically correct bullshit with no basis in reality.
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Prison just ensures they will commit more crimes. Not only are they able to network with other criminals, in the US the stigma of having a criminal record all but ensures they will have little option but to go on committing crimes.
Prison can work, if it's primarily about reform and giving that person a chance to go straight when they get out. Very few countries have prisons like that, but there they do they work.
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We have the highest incarceration rate (Score:2)
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it was still found (just a few hours later after being stolen) due to the LoJack
In Seattle, many stolen cars turn up within a few hours. Not necessarily stripped, but rammed into the front of a business in a smash and grab robbery. Or used in a drive-by hit. The thieves don't care if it's tracked. The primary crime behind the theft can still be carried out before the owner or police can pick up the track. And since the police in Washington State can't pursue a stolen car, the criminals that use them have to be pretty witless to not outrun the cops, dump the car and be on their way*.
*T
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Yeah, I was going to say - I don't want my car back after it's stolen.
Government Advising You To Be Tracked (Score:2)
By a private corporation. No need to ask what could go wrong.
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It's worse than that. Government officials are telling you to choose to a particular private business, which is a sort of crony capitalism.
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Hell, it is even more worse that worse. They chose Apple. The worst of the worst.
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They still have a better network [androidauthority.com] than Samsung or Tile. Works better too especially with the UWD.
Re: Government Advising You To Be Tracked (Score:2)
Re:Government Advising You To Be Tracked (Score:4, Insightful)
It's irrelevant. Everyone already carries a tracker from Big Tech in their pocket, and it tracks way more than just your location.
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Everyone already carries a tracker from Big Tech in their pocket
I don't.
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Moreover, who in NYC has / can afford a car in the first place?
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It's worse than that. Government officials are telling you to choose to a particular private business, which is a sort of crony capitalism.
Let's call it what it is: fascism.
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Better throw away your cell phone then.
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That doesn't stop the traffic/red light/construction/what the fuck ever cameras that are always watching. Toss in some chatGPT and we are pretty much good to go.
Hold on a sec (Score:5, Insightful)
In the past if we gave them this geo-location info they would be all "Didn't ask for it, don't want it, stop hindering us in our job. DO NOT go there yourself (because we definately aren't)."
Add to this the whole, allowed to lie, are not required to protect, immune to crimes they commit.....what fucking good are they????
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Right, they would have hated knowing the exact location of a stolen car.
Re:Hold on a sec (Score:4, Interesting)
I read in the news recently about a local man who had a Macbook stolen from his vehicle and used Find My Apple Thingie to track it down.
Presumably, the police weren't helping, since he went to track it down himself after contacting them.
He tracked it right to the constable's house. [abc13.com] Dude had shook down the kids who originally stole it, and kept the spoils for himself.
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Oh man that cop is going to get a terrible verbal warning. You or me would be arrested on the spot.
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You must live in Portland!
In Texas, police still go after car thieves.
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Much easier than defending a school children from a man on a shooting spree.
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Oh, Oregon has its share of mass shootings too.
https://coef.ceasefireoregon.o... [ceasefireoregon.org]
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Only a tiny percentage of car thefts lead to a high speed chase.
https://www.police1.com/police... [police1.com]
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Your first mistake is believing YouTube.
Houston (where I live) has a lot of car theft, but the rate is only half of Portland's, per capita. Here are some sources.
https://www.koin.com/news/crim... [koin.com].
https://www.click2houston.com/... [click2houston.com]
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DO NOT go there yourself (because we definately aren't).
We had a guy about a year or so who traced his stolen car's location to a notorious hobo jungle. So he got his drone, flew it over the camp and recorded a dozen or so license plates of stolen cars in there. The police did nothing. So he turned his video over to the local news. The police got pissed, because now they'd have to explain their inaction in the face of evidence.
I don't really blame the police. Entering those hobo camps can be a death sentence for them.
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Send in SWAT then.
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Send in SWAT then.
You have to have a violent act involving weapons first. Or our local politicians will shit themselves. Which means an officer has to die.
I'm in favor of sending SWAT in after the Seattle city council though.
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Either or. Buns all around.
Not to get political (Score:1)
Make this political - despite how NYPD tends to make everything political - but this does sort of reinforce what some political sects say: everyone is responsible for their own safety. This is just capitalism solving the problem of what state run agencies can't, or won't, do...
I doubt the cops will be recovering many of these vehicles, but at least it can be used as proof with the insurance company and loan officers that it was stolen when it takes months to deal with a police report...
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I doubt the cops will be recovering many of these vehicles
Except for the occasional joy ride, I thought most stolen vehicles were broken down into parts to put in the lucrative spare-part supply chain.
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It doesn't help with the "Surge In Car Thefts", but starts a "Surge In Car Recoveries Without Involving NYPD"
Elect a Socialist and this is lost. (Score:1)
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
If only (Score:2)
If only there were a way to lock up said thieves when caught, possibly even hold them until their trial if there's a high likelihood of reoffense?
Crazy, I know.
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If only there were a way to lock up said thieves when caught
I mean ostensibly yes, but America already has the highest per capita prison population and the highest total prison population in the world. Either Americans are naturally more felonious than anyone else or something about the locking up strategy isn't working.
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Are they the only two reasons you can think of? And that it must be either/or?
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And that it must be either/or?
For the avoidance of doubt, it's not the former. Americans aren't natural criminals any more or less than any other population, and nothing has changed genetically since 1970. The American prison system however has two major problems:
1. It's steeped in a puritanically inspired type of retributive justice rather than any attempt at rehabilitation and value for money. Puritanical thinking allows only for extremes. Shoot up a school? You're bad and going to hell. Steal food to fee
Car theft helps Apple (Score:1)
Demoralized police (Score:2)
do air tags still chirp to alert thieves? (Score:2)
I know my apple tags still chirp, I thought I read one of their competitors did this to "to prevent stalking use" -- but it also alerts thieves as to the tags presence. I'm guessing that's its still only apple tags that are so handicapped?
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Trivially disabled, if you're a slashdotter. Obviously, not so easy for "the normals" though.
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A slashdotter would have included a link -- something not so easy for "the normals".
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Really? Okay... https://letmegooglethat.com/?q... [letmegooglethat.com]
Or, just get a 5 speed (Score:2)
Does not work outside USA. (Score:2)
That gets old in the age of EVs.
And also: does not work outside USA.
How is car theft still a thing today ?! (Score:3)
Around here for a new car you would be insane to not insure it, as it is virtually guaranteed to get stolen otherwise. That insurance will cost you 4-5% of the insured value (which may or may not match the what you paid for the car) every year. For 10 years, that is 30-50% you have to pay on top of the purchase price. It is a hidden tax, effectively and is quite big.
Seriously? (Score:2)
I can't remember who said, that to be successful in our modern world, you must be able to contradict yourself.
This was on /. just a few hours before:
Apple and Google Team Up To Stop Unwanted AirTag Tracking - Slashdot [slashdot.org]
If your car is stolen... (Score:2)
If your car is stolen, it's your own fault. Thieves have mortgages, too.
You understand it wrong. (Score:2)
You understand it wrong.
- if you have no air tag, they will not help you recover your car, but they will blame you.
- if you got an air tag, they will still not help you recover your car, but at least you can rest assured you helped apple avoid bankruptcy.