"Tile's tracking device is used for stalking, lawsuit alleges" 17 August 2023

The Tile tracking device, designed to help people find their lost keys and luggage, is an invaluable tool stalkers use to harass their victims, a proposed class-action lawsuit alleges.

Ireland-Gordy et al. v. Tile Inc. et al., No. 23-cv-4119, complaint filed, (N.D. Cal. Aug. 14, 2023).

The suit, filed Aug. 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, also alleges that Tile Inc.'s partnership with Amazon.com Inc. "exponentially" increases the device's value to stalkers...Using this technology, a person can place a tracking device on keys, luggage, a wallet or a pet and track someone's whereabouts, the complaint says...Life360 Inc. purchased Tile in 2021.

That same year, the company partnered with Amazon to access the company's "mesh" network of Bluetooth connectivity, aggregated by Amazon products such as Echo, Ring and Sidewalk Bridge in neighborhoods across the United States, according to the suit. "This greatly enabled Tile's reach and efficacy," the complaint says...

This concern was enhanced by Tile's marketing. "The platforms on which the company advertised included pornographic websites, where visitors would leave disturbing comments about using the trackers to find and stalk women," the complaint says...

...The plaintiffs — Ireland Gordy and Shannon Ireland-Gordy — seek to represent a class of all those in the U.S. who were tracked by a Tile tracking device without their consent, another class of those who are at risk of being tracked with a Tile device without consent and a third class of those who live in 35 named states who were tracked by a Tile device without consent. The suit alleges the devices' defective design was predictable because consumers commented that they intended to use the device to stalk victims and that outweighs any consumer benefit.

It also includes claims for negligence, unjust enrichment, intrusion upon seclusion and violations of California's constitutional right to privacy, the state's Invasion of Privacy Act, Cal. Pen. Code § 630, and the state's unfair-competition law, Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200...