Apple AirTags are gaining popularity among politicians for their newfound purpose of fighting against campaign poster snatchers ahead of the 2024 US Elections.
First reported by The Wall Street Journal, several local candidates have been noted for sticking AirTags to their campaign slogans and posters to track down potential snatchers and possibly push charges against them.
(Photo : Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
Poster snatching has been a longtime problem in local elections as supporters of each candidate often target the opposition by tearing down or stealing their campaign materials.
In several states, defacing or removing a political candidate's campaign materials in other people's private properties could fetch the offender a class 2 misdemeanor.
However, just like vandalism, rules around taking down campaign posters are rarely enforced as most perpetrators were never caught.
Oftentimes, law enforcement just put out signs warning people not to damage or steal the campaign materials for the risk of facing penalty fines.
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How Apple AirTags Work in Election Campaign Posters Anti-Theft?
The introduction of Apple AirTags in protecting campaign materials and providing police officers with enough information to track down the perpetrators.
Politicians or their representatives can just report the incident and send law enforcement the Apple AirTag tracking data to locate and recover the stolen campaign posters.
It helps that AirTag tracking with law enforcement's help does not violate Apple's terms of service or other specific state laws. At least, not for now.
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Security Tech Becoming Part of Local Election Campaigns
Although it may seem novel at the start, this was not the first time local politicians have adopted security and tracking technology during the election period to combat campaign poster thieves.
Just earlier this year, two separate incidents of campaign poster vandals were arrested in Miami and Houston after security caught them in the act.
The same trend can even be seen back in 2022 as candidates installed secret cameras directed at their campaign posters to catch vandals and thieves looking to snatch away the posters.
