The criticism is essentially that AirTags are a better tracker for many use cases than existed previously. So I'm not sure what the request here is. Put in mitigations? Well, that's pretty much been done. Decide that this technology is too dangerous to exist? Good luck with that--especially given the positive uses.

Some of the comments in this thread point to violent stories beginning with these types of trackers. I don’t think we’ll hear about comparatively dramatic happy endings facilitated by quick geolocation. Your examples. Thwarted child abductions, via a tracker in a car seat. Critical medicine shipments. I’d argue these are a boon for ordinary people. And ordinary people with some geolocation info who need help from the authorities. And prosecutors following the owner of a discovered tracker.

I’m sorry to be blunt, but unless you have specific reasons to be concerned about custodial kidnapping, “foil baby snatchers by putting an AirTag in your car seat” is nonsense.

So is using this form of consumer tech for shipment tracking, for that matter. More robust trackers have long been in widespread use by the shipping industry.

Maybe people arrive at specific reasons before they decide to use an airtag? “Unless you have specific reasons” is only reassuring the kinds of people who don’t.

The scenario in which an AirTag in a car seat would help prevent a child abduction is extremely specific: the child would have to already be in the car seat and not subsequently moved therefrom, and one or more of the kidnappers would need to have their iPhones on (since the tag uses the network connections of nearby iDevices), in service range, and either not trigger or ignore anti-stalking alerts. I can kinda see how those requirements might fit a custodial kidnapping, but only if the partner didn’t know about the tags. Stranger kidnappings (which are very rare anyway) would likely not.

A GPS tracker with a cell connection would serve you much better in either scenario. Those are less popular with criminals because they can often be traced back to the purchaser, but they are more reliable and won’t accidentally alert the kidnappers because they tripped an anti-stalking monitor.

> And how did you survive before they existed

Like with the most of technology, uncomfortably. I survived before phones, mobile and the Internet. I survived without AC, Car and so many similar things, personally. Now I prefer them and get real benefit from them.

That's a very big Stretch from an airtag to a car.

The GP literally listed several valid usecases?

Valid in comparison to all those apple phones knowing where things are.

I never really lost luggage. I never lost anything.

How would our radio look like if it becomes the norm to put tags from everyone onto everything?