Tile to do what it says most laws don’t: make stalking with location tags painful
U.S. makers of Bluetooth locators and finding services are using biometric ID verification as part of a new service intended to more-effectively foil thieves while also addressing stalking concerns that some people have with the devices.
Tracker maker Tile, a subsidiary of location-services company Life360, says it has created an anti-theft mode for all of its trackers.
That might seem redundant because the chief selling point of trackers has been to locate missing or stolen items. Then stalkers began planting the devices from Tile, Apple and others on people or their belongings to follow them.
In response, manufacturers created services that enabled people to locate secretly placed tags to within an inch. Thieves began using the services to find tags on ill-gotten goods and throw them away.
In a lengthy and impassioned note (published in Medium) from Life360’s co-founder, Chris Hulls, the executive says the attempt to combat the relatively rare – though undeniably dangerous – incidents of stalking is nullifying tags’ original purpose – fighting very common thefts of goods.
Hulls says that as anti-stalking devices, tag services have “incredibly low usage.”
Tile’s optional anti-theft mode enables people to hide tags from thieves. But to use the service, buyers have to submit a government-issued photo ID document so that tag users cannot act anonymously.
The company also says it is going to cooperate with law enforcement agencies without a subpoena if its tags are suspected of being used in a crime. Buyers also will have to agree to pay $1 million if they are convicted of use a Tile tag in committing a crime.
