The Bluetooth Trackers Project
Tech abuse clinics have repeatedly encountered incidents of Bluetooth trackers, like AirTags and Tile, being used to track or harm survivors of intimate partner violence.
Right now, an influential engineering task force is conducting important work to change how Bluetooth trackers behave, intending to make them less useful for stalking. However, we believe any anti-stalking features for Bluetooth trackers should directly incorporate input from subject matter experts and reflect survivors lived experience.
We created this site to help make that happen. We provide accessible, and accurate explanations of what the task force is proposing, so subject matter experts from non-engineering domains can give meaningful feedback. We also share anonymized incident reports of Bluetooth tracker stalking, offering sample scenarios to think through while writing the design.
Resources
A brief introduction to the bluetooth trackers, what can be done to prevent stalking, and what you can do to help.
Answers to common questions about the standard and initiative, and a place to submit new questions.
An access-protected repository of Bluetooth-location tracking incidents observed in tech abuse clinics.
Overview
Bluetooth trackers are small, cheap devices that can be used to find lost or stolen items. The most popular types include Apple AirTags, Tile trackers, and Chipolo. Advocates, journalists, and survivors have reported that such trackers have been non-consensually hidden in cars, purses, or other places and used to stalk someone.
To prevent this, it's helpful if Bluetooth trackers are detectable. That would means that another device, like a smartphone, would be able to connect to all nearby trackers. If the smartphone noticed that a particular Bluetooth tracker was moving with it for an extended period of time, then the smartphone could alert its owner. Then the smartphone and the Bluetooth tracker would "cooperate" to help the person being tracked find and disable the tracker.
However, to make this possible, Bluetooth trackers need to behave in a predictable way. For example, Apple AirTags already behave somewhat like this, but not all trackers do! Thus, the Internet Engineer Task Force, an important standards-making body, is working on defining exactly how Bluetooth trackers should behave to help prevent stalking. They have written a specification laying out this design plan, which you can read here.
Unfortunately, the specification is not very accessible to the general public, including other subject matter experts whose input could help make the final specification as useful as possible for survivors. Thus, we've created a Q&A where we explain key points of the specification.