Samsung copies Apple in adding anti-stalking feature to SmartThings
Samsung has updated its SmartThings Find service to include an anti-stalking feature, one that Apple is believed to be incorporating in the long-rumored "AirTags."
Updated on Tuesday, the SmartThings changes add a number of elements to Samsung's connected device platform, with the main focus being on Find, its location-based tool for relocating devices. Similar in concept to Apple's Find My, SmartThings Find can be used to locate registered Galaxy smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and earbuds, as well as things using the Galaxy SmartTag.
In the list of updates, Samsung includes something called the "Unknown Tag Search feature," which is intended to detect nearby Galaxy SmartTags and other related devices that are moving with the user, but aren't registered to them. Such trackers could be an attempt by someone else to secretly keep tabs on the person's movements, without their knowledge.
The feature is extremely similar to "Item Safety Features" found in iOS betas since November 2020. The feature was believed to allow the user to be alerted if they were seemingly carrying an "AirTag" that didn't belong to them, and to suggest that the user could contact law enforcement over the tracking.
Samsung's other Find-related change is the ability to use Bixby to perform SmartTag searches hands-free. For example, a user could ask Bixby "Where's my bike?" to refer to a tag associated with that object, which can trigger Bixby to make the tag ring out a noise.
Much like Apple's use of encryption for Find My, Samsung's SmartThings Find encrypts user data with a randomized private ID, one that changes every 15 minutes.
The timing of the update's release could be intended as a spoiler for Apple's "Spring Loaded" event occurring later in the day. Among the products anticipated to launch are "AirTags," Apple's smart tag for item tracking within the Find My app.
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Updated on Tuesday, the SmartThings changes add a number of elements to Samsung's connected device platform, with the main focus being on Find, its location-based tool for relocating devices. Similar in concept to Apple's Find My, SmartThings Find can be used to locate registered Galaxy smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and earbuds, as well as things using the Galaxy SmartTag.
In the list of updates, Samsung includes something called the "Unknown Tag Search feature," which is intended to detect nearby Galaxy SmartTags and other related devices that are moving with the user, but aren't registered to them. Such trackers could be an attempt by someone else to secretly keep tabs on the person's movements, without their knowledge.
The feature is extremely similar to "Item Safety Features" found in iOS betas since November 2020. The feature was believed to allow the user to be alerted if they were seemingly carrying an "AirTag" that didn't belong to them, and to suggest that the user could contact law enforcement over the tracking.
Samsung's other Find-related change is the ability to use Bixby to perform SmartTag searches hands-free. For example, a user could ask Bixby "Where's my bike?" to refer to a tag associated with that object, which can trigger Bixby to make the tag ring out a noise.
Much like Apple's use of encryption for Find My, Samsung's SmartThings Find encrypts user data with a randomized private ID, one that changes every 15 minutes.
The timing of the update's release could be intended as a spoiler for Apple's "Spring Loaded" event occurring later in the day. Among the products anticipated to launch are "AirTags," Apple's smart tag for item tracking within the Find My app.
Stay on top of all Apple news right from your HomePod. Say, "Hey, Siri, play AppleInsider," and you'll get latest AppleInsider Podcast. Or ask your HomePod mini for "AppleInsider Daily" instead and you'll hear a fast update direct from our news team. And, if you're interested in Apple-centric home automation, say "Hey, Siri, play HomeKit Insider," and you'll be listening to our newest specialized podcast in moments.
Comments
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/12/the-day-google-had-to-start-over-on-android/282479/
We might as well just say Apple copied Sharp with the notch but just decided to place more components into it and, as a result, made it wider to accommodate them.
Huawei has reduced its notch twice over the last couple of years while maintaining even more functionality than Apple.
The reality is that Apple is sometimes slow to market, or deliberately chooses to hold features back and puts them onto later devices, which, in the case of Apple basically means making users wait for a year (or longer) to get them.
Yes, the wording of the article is a stretch too but it's an Apple centred site and the styling is nothing new so I get why some articles are 'skewed' to show Apple in a better light. I get it. It's not really an issue but sometimes it will get mentioned. That's fair IMO.
That said, it would be foolish to assume the 'idea' of anti stalking features was unique to Apple.
I fear for some of the forum-goer's short-term memory capabilities. The headline is only a "stretch" if you think only in terms of AirTags rather than correctly understanding it is about the "Find My" infrastructure.
The 'anti-stalking' component however, is not yet part of that product AFAIK. It is just a feature that will probably be incorporated because that's what people have seen in beta releases of iOS14.
The anti-stalking feature itself (at least in this context) is irrelevant. The 'stretch' is to associate some kind of connection between Samsung's announcement of a similar feature using the phrase 'Samsung copies Apple' (In the first three words of the title) for a product that Apple simply doesn't have at the time of writing.
You can tear the wording apart and justify it even, but it's still a stretch to imply it.
Stalking is an age old problem (probably older than industrial espionage). Cyber stalking is also old enough now to be considered 'age old'. New digital devices that become more widespread, and more closely tied to different platforms, will inevitably have to provide safeguards at some point (preferably from the get go). When legislation catches up to specific technologies it will be a requirement to implement anti-stalking measures. I think that's a given. There is nothing new to the phenomenon. The focus will be on how the measures are implemented.
The wording of this piece is fun for Apple users or the anti-Samsung folks, but it's definitely a stretch.
But this is not an idea that Samsung could have not thought of it itself. The fact that these things can be used for stalking is a no-brainer.
This has nothing to do with espionage. This is simply a reaction to user feedback after being sold for a few months.