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The system is designed specifically to make this impossible.

Your tag doesn't know its position, it simply broadcasts its own, rotating public key. Since the key changes randomly (in a way that you as the legitimate owner can predict), a third party can't easily follow the tag.

Other devices see that key, and share their position, encrypted with your tag's public key.

That makes it relatively hard to get the data, essentially impossible without forcing Apple to re-design the system and push malicious updates, which is generally considered as something that goes beyond what normal subpoenas can do.




Apple could be subpoenaed to look at the account holder's registered tags still, no?


If the US government is subpoenaing Apple on your behalf, you probably have bigger problems.


The US government has told Google to query its location database for any device in the vicinity of certain crimes before. There's no way they're not trying to get Apple to do the same.

If Apple designed they'd crypto system as well as they claim that's not viable at this moment in time, but the government can certainly try.


This gives them a list of tags, but not their location. The keys to decrypt your location are (AFAIK) held on your iPhone.


Anybody can write a subpoena, but Apple is on record as having absolutely no problem telling anyone who does so to go fuck themselves and then backing it up with litigation.


No, because Apple doesn't have the private key of the account holder, and so can't see which rotating codes are associated with that account holder since it's all encrypted.




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