Personally I feel like the anti-theft nature of these devices is massively outweighed by the horrible outcomes of stalking and clandestine tracking. They're not a theft deterrent, in fact they're generally hidden so a thief has no idea it's there. And what are you going to do, show up with a posse to get your stuff back?
The world would be better if tracking devices did not exist. It's a shame you've decided to actively reject anti-stalking features.
I am very open to being wrong and changing course, but let's have a data-driven decision.
When we launched our anti-theft feature, we were clear that if we found there was widespread abuse, we would change course. We have had literally zero complaints of anyone being stalked with a device where anti-theft was enabled.
And I think you are misunderstanding the new standards. Google and Apple will proactively notify thieves of nearby trackers, and allow a thief to disable it. This is next level bad for anyone relying on their tracking device to protect against theft.
What is the data that would change your mind? I would change my mind if we found that more than .1% of our customers were abusing this feature.
How is it an anti-theft device if the thief doesn’t know it’s there?
I could see this being used in the aggregate to ascertain drop off points or chop shops, but at an individual level it doesn’t stop your stuff from being stolen. Even the aggregate case requires buy in from law enforcement to actually act on the information which is not a small thing.
Sure, I agree with that. We did user testing and people understood the concept. It is anti-theft in the sense you have a real chance of getting your stuff back, unlike with AirTags and now Google network devices where thieves will just disable the tracker.
As a personal bias, I believe companies like yours are pathologically unable to do the right thing. Take my reply with that in mind.
I carefully examined life360.com, trying to put myself in the shoes of somebody who was stalked, magically divined that life360 was involved, and wanted to report the issue. The extent of my options on life360.com are:
1. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
And that's it. There does not exist a "contact us" or other general mechanism, and there certainly does not exist an abuse reporting mechanism. If that happens to exist behind other filters or paywalls then it's not relevant when discussing how the average customer would interact with your website.
With that in mind, I would expect an exactly 0% abuse rate regardless of how abusive your product actually is. You confirm that number. I'm not surprised.
The ball is in your court. How do you prove to the world that you _actually_ care about abuse? How _should_ a real abusee interact with your website? Why isn't it obvious? What are the exact numbers? And so on...
That link specifically dissuades anyone who is a victim from contacting your company. It directs them to contact police or a lawyer, and you provide no ability in that link to contact your company.
I take that to mean there were zero law enforcement reports. Going to law enforcement is always your port of call when dealing with any sort of criminal activity happening as it relates to a tech company. Even Apple says this as it relates to AirTags.
Think about it for a second. If anyone could contact a tech company to get people's information based on a serial number, this would be abused by people who could steal your phone, airpods, or bag containing an airtag, claim to be stalked, contact the manufacturer directly, and get your home address from the manufacturer by giving them the serial number.
"If you feel your safety is at risk, you can contact your local law enforcement, who can work with Apple. You might need to provide the AirTag or its serial number."
> We have had literally zero complaints of anyone being stalked with a device where anti-theft was enabled.
First, it's highly likely that someone being stalked wouldn't realize a tile device was the cause. Secondly, you said Tile and Life360 are on only 12% of devices. So maybe 1 out of 10 stalkers will be successful in using your device to stalk. That's not enough data to state so conclusively that this doesn't happen. I'm sure if Tile was more popular (and thus more functional) and more stalkers knew they were the best devices for stalking, they would use them.
Theft is more common. Each instance of stalking does more damage. I haven't the faintest clue how I should weigh the cost against the benefit here, but I certainly don't like how the CEO here is blatantly attempting to downplay the stalking-enabling-externality their theft prevention device has.
Maybe in the US, I know several cases where stolen bikes were returned and thieves charged in central Europe. I've never lost anything, but had a bike stolen and I'm in fear of having another one stolen. GPS trackers are not a real option for me (monthly fee, high battery consumption, not having an e-bike which would make it easier). These trackers are a great idea and I do get why stalking is an issue. But I'm with the Tile CEO when it comes to other or even better options for stalking. GPS trackers are way more accurate and I assume that swapping them or recharging them is less of a concern in that case.
It's a shame that stalking is a concern. It's a shame that this had to be implemented and effectively breaks the devices use case for most people. But I'm not even mad at Apple or Google, because I also think that it is their responsibility to protect people from being stalked.
Tile is also not an option for me, in Europe pretty much no one uses it. I will still try my luck with Apple and Google/Pebblebee Tags. Does anyone have experience how long it takes until you get notified about a tracker moving with you?
> They're not a theft deterrent, in fact they're generally hidden so a thief has no idea it's there.
A potential car thief doesn't know if your car has an alarm on it either, but he just assumes that it does because most do. With wide enough adoption of these devices, it could work out the same.
The world would be better if tracking devices did not exist. It's a shame you've decided to actively reject anti-stalking features.