S.T.O.P. Condemns Apple For Tracking iPhone Location When Turned Off

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View this email in your browser For Immediate Release S.T.O.P. Condemns Apple For Tracking iPhone Location When Turned Off (New York, NY, 10/1/2021) - Today, the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), a New York-based privacy group, condemns Apple’s ability to track iPhones and iPads even when the devices are turned off through the Find My app. While users are able to disable the Find My feature, it is turned on for many by default, and users receive a warning if they attempt to turn it off. The civil rights group expressed alarm, noting that governments could use Find My to track people with disabled phones at political protests and other sensitive sites. SEE: The Verge - How to find your lost iPhone – even if it’s off https://www.theverge.com/22697218/iphone-apple-ios-15-find-my-how-to “I was already outraged by Apple’s flurry of recent privacy scandals, but my latest findings truly shocked me,” said Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Technology Director Jackie Singh. “Soon after upgrading to iOS 15, a message popped up stating my phone is findable even when turned off.  Apple manipulatively presents this as somehow a good thing – a way to find a lost or stolen phone – but it quickly became clear this could be used to track my location and that of the billion other iPhone users worldwide. We have a right to know whether our location data is truly private, and it is reckless of Apple to potentially place this capability in the hands of authoritarian regimes, stalkers, and hackers.” “It’s dangerous when the government can track nearly any phone anytime it’s on, but it’s a nightmare when they can do the same thing to our phones even when they’re off,” said Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn. “In just a few months, Apple destroyed a decade of hard-won trust. In recent weeks, Apple has rolled out a series of features that turn our digital assistants into threats. This company promised us privacy, but increasingly they only sell surveillance. Not only has Apple threatened to allow government searches of our own files, it also has proposed invasive new mental health tracking. We should be able to control our own phones, but, increasingly, Apple wants our iPhones to control us.” Earlier this month, the civil rights group was part of a nationwide movement led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Fight For The Future to block Apple’s proposed launch of neuralMatch, invasive scanning software that would examine users’ phones for prohibited files. Earlier this summer, the group opposed Apple’s introduction of AirTags, noting that the small tracking devices could be misused by abusers to track survivors of intimate partner violence. SEE: Wired - Apple’s Privacy Mythology Doesn’t Match Reality https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-apples-privacy-mythology-doesnt-match-reality/ Input - Activists protest Apple's photo-hashing leading up to iPhone 13 event https://www.inputmag.com/culture/activists-protest-apples-photo-hashing-leading-up-to-iphone-13-event Wired - Apple’s AirTags Are a Gift to Stalkers https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-apples-air-tags-are-a-gift-to-stalkers/ The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project is a non-profit advocacy organization and legal services provider. S.T.O.P. litigates and advocates for privacy, fighting excessive local and state-level surveillance. Our work highlights the discriminatory impact of surveillance on Muslim Americans, immigrants, and communities of color. -- END -- CONTACT: S.T.O.P. Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn. Copyright © 2019 Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.