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A 10-Year Battery for AirTag

(www.elevationlab.com)
673 points dmd | 3 comments | 18 Dec 24 18:17 UTC | HN request time: 0.809s | source
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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.

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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."
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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.
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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

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srockets ◴[20 Dec 24 01:13 UTC] No.42467388[source]▶
The police won’t help you. It’s not their job.
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happyopossum ◴[20 Dec 24 03:02 UTC] No.42467898[source]▶
Move, or elect better local politicians. Your city is broken.
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1. 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.
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2. 9dev ◴[20 Dec 24 22:37 UTC] No.42475803[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.
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3. sneak ◴[21 Dec 24 23:51 UTC] No.42483293[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.