A family in the US state of Missouri is suing their local police after a SWAT team wrongfully raided and ransacked their home, from information it got from the Apple “Find My” app. The tactical group were apparently looking for weapons and material related to a carjacking that occurred the same morning.
As for the reason and logic behind the use of “Find My”, SWAT was seemingly tracing a pair of AirPods that were stolen from the victim of the carjacking earlier. While the app does help users to some measurable degree in locating their devices, it should be said – if it isn’t already known at this point – that the app only gives you an approximate but not precise location of the missing device.
And that is the argument that the innocent family’s lawyer will be using in its lawsuit against the St. Louis County Police. “Find My is not that accurate. I actually went to my house and with co-counsel and played around with it for an hour. It’s just not that good.”
The lawyer further says that the Apple “Find My” feature didn’t provide sufficient probable cause to warrant an armed raid. On a side note, this is somewhat reminiscent of the “swatting” culture that occurred many years before but while this incident was an error in judgement, the act of swatting tends to be premeditated.
