Apple and Google have collaborated to combat the potential misuse of Bluetooth location-tracking devices by submitting a proposed industry specification. The proposed specification is described as “first-of-its-kind” and will make Bluetooth location-tracking devices compatible with unauthorized tracking detection and alerts across iOS and Android platforms. This will help to detect and prevent unwanted tracking. The proposal has been submitted to the Internet Engineering Task Force as an internet draft for interested parties to review and provide feedback over the next three months.
The proposed specification will provide instructions for manufacturers to incorporate these capabilities into their products. Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, eufy Security, and Pebblebee have expressed their support for the draft specification. Bluetooth trackers are widely used to find personal items such as keys, purses, and luggage through crowdsourced finding networks. However, they can also be misused for the unwanted tracking of people, which has become a significant privacy concern.
In a statement, Google’s Vice President of Engineering for Android, Dave Burke, said that Android will continue to develop strong safeguards and collaborate with the industry to combat the misuse of Bluetooth tracking devices. Apple’s Vice President of Sensing and Connectivity, Ron Huang, stated that AirTag and the Find My network were created to provide users with the peace of mind of knowing where to find their most important items. Apple built AirTag and the Find My network with proactive features to discourage unwanted tracking, and they continue to make improvements to ensure the technology is used as intended.
Once feedback has been addressed, Apple and Google plan to release a production implementation of the specification for unwanted tracking alerts by the end of 2023. The implementation will be supported in future versions of iOS and Android. The proposed specification aims to address the issue of location tracking, which is becoming a significant privacy concern as it is increasingly used in many software applications that dominate our daily personal and business lives. Regulations, such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, are in place to address the issue of location tracking. Location data is considered personal information under this regulation, requiring users to specifically accept location tracking by apps.
