A Cautionary Tale

From my good friend Jim Shepherd. Seems very appropriate this time of year, more so with crime soaring in some places. But, the lesson is for all seasons.

A Cautionary Tale - Jungle Wisdom

https://www.theoutdoorwire.com/features/7e2ba80f-ca3b-4b6a-8491-86ffbbd37326

"There’s no fight as ill-considered as a fair one."

Great advice!

Certainly don't deny that bad folks are lurking, ready to take advantage, but there is another aspect - note the stories of spontaneous aid offered to the folks in Kentucky.

The closest I ever came to being mugged was sitting my car in a hospital parking garage at night. I was tending to something before heading inside and I saw someone aggressively approaching my car in my mirror. My door was already open and I didn't want him to get to me while I was still seated. I stood up and I was fortunately a lot bigger than the would be aggressor (I'm not a particularly big guy, but he was tiny) and by this time he was about three feet from me. He stumbled for words, said something about needing directions, and then ran off. Woof. Close call. Pay attention out there.

Mr. Shepherd did well. I'm a big, big fan of avoidance.

When I teach concealed carry I spend a lot of time on avoiding contact with potential assailants.

When I had my class a long time ago they had a short video where a guy drove up by an ATM at night in an empty, dark parking lot, got our of his car leaving it running to walk up to the ATM and was approached then by "potential bad guy" for a what would you do scenario. The instructor wasn't real happy with my response of not stopping my car in the road/fire lane, not leaving the engine running, etc to prevent/avoid the scenario, etc because the class was focusing on the "bad guy"

But I have noticed a lot more crime. We've had a lot of cars stoles, lots of people going around checking for unlocked car doors, etc.

Wow! Get out and leaving your car running with the keys in the ignition is world-class bozo stuff! Due to circumstances that would take a long explanation I often end up using at ATM very late in the eve/early in the morning but I never leave my car running.

Apropos of nothing, banks really do a crappy job of helping to make their ATMs secure. They seem to love the kind of landscaping that looks good from the street but gives predators plenty of concealment to prey on customers.

Kroger near us put in a starbucks. Many people will pull their car up in the fire lane, get out and leave it running, go in and get their starbucks and get back in their car. Even though they have a bunch of parking spaces reserved for starbucks right there in front of the store.

Also been a story recently, about thieves putting trackers on cars in parking lots, so can track them to their home.

https://www.yrp.ca/en/Modules/News/index.aspx?newsId=167fa5b3-3583-431d-8cc0-91e49aee3bff

If you see a “Item Detected Near You” alert on your Apple device while driving, it may be an AirTag attached to your car. Park someplace safe (a police station is ideal, a hospital is another good option), and if there’s an AirTag attached to your car, get rid of it.

Attach it to the nearest police car

That brings up something interesting, I'm going to have to lookup how to detect airtags (for those of us plebs who can't afford a ferrariiphone to see if there are any near me.

Two can play that game. Put an AirTag in a secret place in your own car, so police can locate it after it's stolen.

Apple are supposedly making an Android app for detecting them, but still not great, as it's all dependent on Apple figuring out an AirTag and your phone are traveling together and alerting you promptly.

How to find, block, or disable an unknown AirTag moving with you

https://www.macworld.com/article/345863/how-to-find-block-disable-airtag-moving-with-you.html

With these AirTags, Apple has done a great disservice to people who are being stalked. They have massively put them in harms way. Apparently Apple doesn't care - they had to have thought about the consequences when they were initially designing this device. And they are turning innocent people into unknowing accomplices for stalkers. Criminals - car thieves and such - have got to really love these AirTags too. Sounds like someone needs to design an inexpensive portable long range bluetooth jammer. Of course that would disrupt nearby innocent people who are just listening to music on their bluetooth earbuds, but you can thank Apple for that.

I've never worked for Apple and I cannot speak for them. But I can definitely tell you they've done massively dumb things in the past. Many organizations, it seems, get dumber as they get bigger.

The largest company I ever worked for did SO MANY dumb things that despite having amazing products and services it no longer exists. A close friend who worked with me there told me once "Leadership is THE difference," and it really stuck with me. Even highly profitable companies like Apple can have this issue.



That is illegal in the US, and the FCC's Enforcement Division eventually catches and imprisons jammer operators, and I understand even sometimes the manufacturers.

Personally, if I were at high risk of being harmed by a stalker, and the threat of an AirTag was real for my situation, I would simply ignore any such FCC law that put me at even higher risk and use a bluetooth jammer anyway. I believe in obeying the law, but with common sense being thrown in as well. Similarly, I would not chastise someone who drove 70 in a 55 zone to get a dying family member to a hospital (they should have taken an ambulance, but even if they didn't, I would not throw them to the wolves).

If it turns out enough people resort to using illegal bluetooth jammers to avoid negative consequences from Apple's AirTags, that might be time for the government to review the appropriateness of allowing Apple's technology in the first place.

I really do think that Apple has done a grave disservice to the population at large by bringing this technology to market. What was that line from Jurassic Park? "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." I don't know what Apple was thinking. Blinded by potential profits I guess.

If funny though, jamming is illegal but spamming is free speech. So someone can use a bluetooth transmitter to send enough advertisements to render a service useless but jamming the spammer isn't legal.

Scanning for those devices should be legal. Removing the device from your car should be legal as well (destroying it probably is not).
In my neck of the woods it is an option to turn the device in to the lost and found bureau or let the police get the device for evidence. If I were at risk to be harmed by a stalker, I´d prefer the latter.
Those jammers are prone to interfere with legal operation of Bluetooth devices. Authorities might not be inclined to put up with that.

BTW:
APRS allows tracking too. I can legally build and operate an APRS tranceiver. I can also buy such a transceiver without prove of license. I cannot legally use it to track someone without their consent though.

Apple wasn't the first to put bluetooth trackers on the market. Maybe Tile was. Currently there are several companies with them on the market, also including Samsung and Chipolo.