:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/ITLHSZJLQRB65MTVDSLDF7UUFQ.jpeg)
Sita, an international supplier of technology which monitors global baggage handling, says lost passenger bags worldwide dropped from 46.9 million in 2007 to 24.8 in 2018. That’s good news, sure, but it still implies there are 25 millions of suitcases that, after a flight, do not reach the hands of their owners. In most cases it is a diversion: the luggage is not where it should be, and it will have to be relocated.
LOOK: How is Mastodon, the social network similar to Twitter to which users are moving
To the American documentary filmmaker Errol Webber, however, something different happened to him: when he returned from a trip through Alaska to Los Angeles, he found that the bags where he brought part of his equipment had the zippers running; he didn’t care, but when he went looking for those kits he couldn’t find them. And he, he says, he was pretty sure that he had kept them there.
On the night of October 29, I took United 1959 from Anchorage to Denver, and the morning of October 30, took United 2487 from Denver to Burbank to get back home to Hollywood.
The flights were uneventful, so I thought nothing of it, picked up my bags, and went home.
— Errol Webber (@ErrolWebber) November 2, 2022
Webber was clear: those computers had been stolen. And he had a very simple way of confirming it: in the bag containing the camera that had disappeared (with a value, he says, of about 200 dollars) he had hidden, months before, a Apple AirTag, a Bluetooth tracker, to better keep track of where your luggage was. So he activated the search system to see where this team might be: maybe it had been lost on the connecting flight, or something.
So on September 21, I went to the @Manzana Store at the Grove in Los Angeles to pick up a 4-pack of #AirTags in preparation for a flight I had that night to New York. pic.twitter.com/iVpLl9VC80
— Errol Webber (@ErrolWebber) November 2, 2022
AirTags, like Samsung SmartTags or Tiles, are small Bluetooth antennas that have two modes of operation: basic does sound an alert when it moves away from its owner’s iPhone far enough to lose the wireless connection (10 or 15 meters); ideal to put in the wallet, backpack or purse, etc.
The other mode of operation kicks in when that initial connection is lost. The AirTags they don’t have internet access of their own, but they can alert another Apple device (another iPhone, for example), anonymously and transparently, that they are far from their owner, and use the geolocation of that device that does have internet access (an iPhone, an iPad) in order to be found.
LOOK: Netflix: the secret codes to watch the hidden movies and series
The system works automatically and hidden: that is, all iPhone users in the world create a search network, without anyone having to do anything; simply, if a phone and a company Bluetooth keychain communicate, one will notify the other that it is there, this will be reflected in Apple’s servers, and the equipment can be located by its owner (and only by him). Samsung’s system is similar, although participation in that search network is voluntary.
Any way at all, Webber started Apple’s search service, and quickly found the AirTag which, he knew, was inside the bag that had the missing camera: he was, unexpectedly, at a private address in Anchorage, Alaska.
Webber tweeted his finding; the tweet went viral and alerted the airline that he had brought the luggage, United, that set the process of locating luggage in motion. Webber later deleted the tweet, because it showed a home address of someone who may or may not have been involved in the theft: the system has a certain margin of error in determining the geographic location of an AirTag.
They apologized and assured me that, while they’ve already begun looking into it, if they find that it was a United employee, they would be held accountable.
After the call, I received an email from United’s Customer Care team with information on how to follow up with the case.
— Errol Webber (@ErrolWebber) November 2, 2022
Now Webber is waiting for the authorities to act to recover his equipment, and all thanks to an AirTag.
GDA / The Nation / Argentina
Source: Elcomercio
I have worked as a journalist for over 10 years and have written for various news outlets. I currently work as an author at 24 News Recorder, mostly covering entertainment news. I have a keen interest in the industry and enjoy writing about the latest news and gossip. I am also a member of the National Association of Journalists.
