How Women Are Being Increasingly Screwed Over by Modern Technology
On the prevalence of tech-facilitated violence, abuse and sexual harassment
When Apple first released AirTag — a Bluetooth-enabled device designed to help people track their personal belongings — safety experts quickly branded it a ‘gift to abusers.’
And despite, or perhaps because of, being surrounded by controversy, the product quickly soared in popularity and indeed started to be used by abusers to stalk their victims.
Two years later, that’s still the case.
In recent months, social media platforms — particularly Tik Tok — have been flooded with reports of women finding AirTags hidden in their bags, pockets, behind license plates or bumpers and even… in their children’s backpacks.
In the US, at least two women are currently suing Apple after their previous romantic partners used the company’s AirTag devices to track their whereabouts and harass them. In the UK, several men have already been jailed or received a restraining order after doing the same thing.
And although Apple improved its safety features last year — including making the AirTag alert louder — it can still be quite challenging to spot the device unless you have an iPhone or suspect someone…
