An Australian man who used the Find My iPad feature to locate his tablet after it was stolen is being accused of trespassing “via radio wave.” A court is now trying to decide whether he acted unlawfully when he used Apple’s service to track his iPad — and the thief who stole it — via GPS.
Police recovered the stolen iPad from 49-year-old Alden Harder’s home when the owner provided them with information on its whereabouts, which was obtained using the built-in Find My iPad feature. When they arrived at the property, they also discovered a “haul” of other items, including laptops and a police officer’s badge that was reportedly stolen back in 2009.
Rather than apologizing and accepting his punishment, Harder’s lawyer is now accusing the iPad’s owner of trespassing on his property “via radio wave,” according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
”It’s very clear that [the alleged victim’s] purpose was to play amateur detective and to carry out a test with the GPS in his iPhone in an attempt to obtain evidence to give police as to the location of his iPad,” he said.
Thankfully, prosecutor Keegan Lee dismissed these claims as “an absurd expansion of the definition of a trespass.”
Mr Lee said if electronic transmission were a trespass then ”I would safely say nearly everybody in this courtroom has committed that act by having a wireless router” that transmitted Wi-Fi internet through their homes and into their neighbours’ property.
Can you imagine if Harder’s lawyer had gotten his way? We’d all be afraid of using Find My iPhone or iPad for fear of being charged for trespassing.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald