Press Release: CDT and NNEDV Applaud Apple & Google Partnership to Mitigate Harms of Bluetooth Location Tracking Technology

(WASHINGTON) — The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) and the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) applaud Apple and Google’s joint release of a standards proposal to help combat the misuse of Bluetooth location-tracking devices for unwanted tracking. The announcement follows advocacy from CDT and NNEDV for companies to take such steps to lessen misuses of Bluetooth tracking devices.

CDT President and CEO Alexandra Reeve Givens says:

“Bluetooth tracking devices are meant to help people find misplaced keys or luggage, but it’s currently too easy to use these devices, surreptitiously, to track people.

Today’s announcement of draft best practices and protocols to detect unknown trackers is a welcome step; it promises to make these devices more detectable and reduce the likelihood that they will be used to track people without their knowledge. A key element to reducing misuse is a universal, platform-level solution that is able to detect trackers made by different companies on the variety of smartphones that people use everyday.”