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    A 10-Year Battery for AirTag

    (www.elevationlab.com)
    673 points dmd | 18 comments | 18 Dec 24 18:17 UTC | HN request time: 0.81s | source | bottom
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    jmull ◴[19 Dec 24 19:42 UTC] No.42465013[source]▶
    I know this is useful (for something), but I'm stuck on the plot holes in the motivating story...

    Why didn't they replace the battery when the app complained?

    How long would a thief really keep the AirTag anyway?

    If the thief did keep the AirTag and you tracked them down, then what? A confrontation has a fairly high chance to have a worse result than losing some equipment. You could try to get the police to do it, but that's going to take more time, during which the thief is even more likely to ditch the AirTag.

    Anyway, you're really swimming upstream trying to think of aigtags as an antitheft device. They're really for something lost, not stolen. Generally, they are specifically designed to not work well in adversarial situations.

    replies(28): >>42465128 #>>42465202 #>>42465292 #>>42465303 #>>42465460 #>>42465554 #>>42465750 #>>42465858 #>>42466486 #>>42466585 #>>42466656 #>>42466744 #>>42466798 #>>42466905 #>>42467422 #>>42467653 #>>42467777 #>>42468238 #>>42468266 #>>42469043 #>>42469231 #>>42469724 #>>42470989 #>>42471280 #>>42472799 #>>42472809 #>>42477976 #>>42481533 #
    joshuahaglund ◴[19 Dec 24 20:46 UTC] No.42465554[source]▶
    I've retrieved stolen bikes, one because of an airtag. Showed up with a couple friends standing by but not trying to be intimidating. It's mostly about staying calm and telling the person this is mine, I'm taking it. They always say "no it's my friend's, you're gonna piss him off" or "I just bought this" or something. Maybe you offer some fraction of a "reward" to smooth it along and cut your losses. Don't try to start a fight and it generally goes OK. Also, try not to accuse them of stealing, they'll just get defensive. "It's someone else who is screwing us both, but this is mine sorry."
    replies(3): >>42466818 #>>42466821 #>>42469423 #
    nostromo ◴[19 Dec 24 23:27 UTC] No.42466818[source]▶
    If it’s left anywhere in the open at anytime, you can repossess it legally as well. This happens with auto repossessions all the time. You don’t owe anyone an explanation as it’s yours - just take it if you can do so safely.
    replies(3): >>42466899 #>>42469332 #>>42480492 #
    mikeortman ◴[19 Dec 24 23:38 UTC] No.42466899[source]▶
    Just be careful! In SOME jurisdictions, you can get in trouble for 'stealing' if you take back something that was stolen. Possession vs Ownership are 2 different things. For instance, the thief may have stolen something, sold it to someone who bought it in good-faith, and you take it back from that person, it's technically theft!

    File a police report, go through the right channels. If you know its yours, call the police department non-emergency and explain the situation

    replies(10): >>42466945 #>>42466970 #>>42467032 #>>42467388 #>>42468029 #>>42468376 #>>42468451 #>>42468731 #>>42470126 #>>42478230 #
    1. srockets ◴[20 Dec 24 01:13 UTC] No.42467388[source]▶
    The police won’t help you. It’s not their job.
    replies(5): >>42467418 #>>42467898 #>>42469283 #>>42470269 #>>42473132 #
    2. wahnfrieden ◴[20 Dec 24 01:20 UTC] No.42467418[source]▶
    They will at best waste your time, and at worst they will cause you and your family harm for involving them. In Toronto even a stolen car is not enough to get their attention if you are not a high-profile business owner.
    replies(1): >>42469055 #
    3. happyopossum ◴[20 Dec 24 03:02 UTC] No.42467898[source]▶
    Move, or elect better local politicians. Your city is broken.
    replies(4): >>42468046 #>>42468135 #>>42468264 #>>42470973 #
    4. sneak ◴[20 Dec 24 03:32 UTC] No.42468046[source]▶
    Different local politicians won’t change the legal fact that the police have no obligation whatsoever to investigate or prevent crime. It’s simply not in the job description.
    replies(1): >>42475803 #
    5. serf ◴[20 Dec 24 03:54 UTC] No.42468135[source]▶
    we can't all live in Bedford Falls, and the police aren't there for the benefit of the every-person no matter where you live.

    it's a nice bit of propaganda that they're there for us, but I urge anyone with that idea to seek out and research the history and origins of the modern police.

    hint : in the US they first emerged as 'slave patrols', and then later modernized into 'industrial labor controls', and things weren't all that much better across the ocean in London with Sir Robert Peel and his version of the 'police service'.

    replies(1): >>42474006 #
    6. throwaway48476 ◴[20 Dec 24 04:23 UTC] No.42468264[source]▶
    Better to get rid of the police and let people get actual justice themselves.
    replies(1): >>42473291 #
    7. bagels ◴[20 Dec 24 07:37 UTC] No.42469055[source]▶
    At best they will help you with stolen property, but that is rare.
    replies(1): >>42469463 #
    8. GeekyBear ◴[20 Dec 24 08:31 UTC] No.42469283[source]▶
    It depends on the city.

    > Police to give out free air tag tracking devices to combat rise in stolen vehicles

    https://www.princewilliamtimes.com/news/police-to-give-out-f...

    9. wahnfrieden ◴[20 Dec 24 09:22 UTC] No.42469463{3}[source]▶
    Mythically rare. They're more likely to steal from you.
    10. FabHK ◴[20 Dec 24 11:36 UTC] No.42470269[source]▶
    I was in Singapore in 2013 and there was a big sign on a street saying:

    Crime Alert

    THEFT OF BICYCLE

    AT THIS NEIGHBOURHOOD

    ON 20 MARCH 2013 @ 7 AM

    Witnesses, please call Tanglin Police Division

    (phone number redacted)

    11. dennis_jeeves2 ◴[20 Dec 24 13:40 UTC] No.42470973[source]▶
    We need humans 2.0 for that to happen.
    12. ◴[20 Dec 24 17:44 UTC] No.42473132[source]▶
    13. DaSHacka ◴[20 Dec 24 18:07 UTC] No.42473291{3}[source]▶
    I'm sure that would end wonderfully.
    replies(1): >>42481750 #
    14. gottorf ◴[20 Dec 24 19:18 UTC] No.42474006{3}[source]▶
    > the history and origins of the modern police

    > in the US they first emerged as 'slave patrols'

    > Sir Robert Peel and his version of the 'police service'

    I assume that prior to the "modern" police, policing was still necessary, since there were lawbreakers and troublemakers since time immemorial. What do you regard as the substantive difference between the pre-modern police force and the modern? Did the former somehow serve "all of us" better than the latter?

    replies(1): >>42478595 #
    15. 9dev ◴[20 Dec 24 22:37 UTC] No.42475803{3}[source]▶
    Err… what is their job, then, if not investigating and preventing crime? That pet theory with the slave patrols of yours, by the way, isn’t it; that’s a hoax. The modern police in the USA and other countries stems from the British police, which did exactly what they are supposed to do, since ages.
    replies(1): >>42483293 #
    16. lazide ◴[21 Dec 24 09:41 UTC] No.42478595{4}[source]▶
    Typically law enforcement was DIY, done by a mob, or done at the behest/in the interest of a local strongman (king or lord).

    That led to extremely selective enforcement at the best of times.

    The idea of a professional, independent force that served the public and preferred formal laws was the innovation.

    Previously you’d need to either deal with it yourself, or track down a local patron and hope they cared enough to assign some muscle to deal with it on your behalf - and didn’t favor the perp more. Think ‘Godfather’. In those cases, written law was rarely a priority either.

    17. throwaway48476 ◴[21 Dec 24 19:46 UTC] No.42481750{4}[source]▶
    It worked for thousands of years.
    18. sneak ◴[21 Dec 24 23:51 UTC] No.42483293{4}[source]▶
    The police are the enforcement arm of the ownership class.

    They apply the law as required to enforce the the socioeconomic order. This is why when people who aren’t custodians of land or cash flows ask them to investigate or solve crimes they rarely do.

    The selective application of the law is how the current prerogatives of the ownership class are implemented in society.

    This is why it’s illegal to do cocaine at work if you’re a poor person flipping burgers, but not if you’re an investment banker.