As spotted by PCMag, a handful of ‘Silent AirTags’ listings have recently appeared on Etsy and eBay for as much $80 a piece. These AirTags look the same as the regular $29 AirTags, albeit with a small hole underneath the battery to disconnect the speaker.
While these listings claims that silencing the AirTags prevents thieves from finding them on stolen items, some privacy advocates have shared stalking concerns.
Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said these modified AirTags could be easily abused for other nefarious purposes. “Any item that works for the purpose of catching a thief in this manner is also a perfect tool for stalking,” Galperin tweeted.
“That is why Apple advertises them as tools for tracking lost items and not stolen ones.”
“Removing the speakers from AirTags eliminates the only anti-stalking mitigation that works automatically and does not depend on the person being stalked having a phone,” Galperin told PCMag.
Apple has also put some safeguards in place to prevent stalking with AirTags. In addition to the beep alert, a rogue AirTag will automatically send a notification to any nearby iPhone owner.
