> The outrage feels misplaced.

Agreed.

> The way to stop evil people abusing your global track-anything network is to not have a global track-anything network.

Or, to have a global track-anything network, and recognize this is the wrong level to try and solve the abuse problem.

> Apple PR must be on yellow alert right now feeling glad they’ve dodged a bullet.

Nah, they knew about this from the start - that's why they nerfed the whole design to the point it barely has any use case; otherwise they'd be buried with complaints and horror stories and media criticism, and the device would've never reached the market.

> Apple PR must be on yellow alert right now feeling glad they’ve dodged a bullet

iPhones notify you when someone else's AirTag is following you.

> leverage their ubiquity

We live in different worlds