An Indianapolis woman is accused of killing her boyfriend with a car outside of a pub. A witness told police that the defendants accused the victim of cheating and that she used an Apple AirTag to track him.
A witness told police that Gaylyn Morris entered the pub around midnight and began threatening to beat another woman. Morris hit the victim with her car in the parking lot and then backed over him. The man died at the scene.
The police officer told the court that Morris admitted to hitting Smith with his car after being arrested. He said the car is registered to Morris. The person could not be reached for a response.
The AirTag was launched by Apple in April of last year as a way to locate lost items, including purses, wallet, and keys. Security experts warned of the risk of abuse by violent partners.
Women in bars have reported AirTags being dropped into their pockets. Vice obtained records from eight police departments detailing 50 cases in which women said they were tracked by AirTags they didn't own. The site said that a majority of incidents were caused by angry exes. Police were told by multiple victims that they were afraid of a violent outcome.
According to Apple, the new Safety Check feature was designed to help victims of abuse.
Safety Check will allow iPhone owners to reset their privacy settings more quickly and stop the sharing of location data with other people. The feature will restrict access to native apps, as well as audit the sharing permission of other people.
According to a privacy engineering manager at Apple, safety check allows people in abusive situations to get to safety quickly.
Apple didn't reply to the request. The company said it cooperated with law enforcement on all AirTag requests.
Apple said that unwanted tracking had been a problem for a long time. A customer who lost his wallet on the subway was able to find it thanks to AirTag and the Find My app.
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 10 million women and men in the U.S. experience domestic violence each year.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE(7233) or visit newbegin.org to find help.
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