Unfortunately theft including vehicle theft is a big issue where I live. The Bluetooth range for it is about 100m.

"If an AirTag is lost or stolen, the ‌Find My‌ network can help you find it. The ‌Find My‌ Network takes advantage of hundreds of millions of iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices to help you locate an AirTag, with the AirTag showing up on a map when it is located by someone else's device." This is basically the same system it will use to help you find a vehicle or whatever item is stolen when there is an AirTag attached to it.

so basically it only works in the city. If the vehicle gets taken beyond 100m (on a good day with no obstructions) of another Apple device then you're screwed. I dunno man ... I wouldn't put any money into that.

It's only $30 so not super expensive. Not bullet proof for sure but I think it can be found a lot sooner than it goes anywhere which there is no Apple device present. Like it basically sends a notification right away as soon as it gets away from your phone so you can even follow it if you notice the notification soon enough. Like where I live in a city the theft happens in the city limits and they usually use cars for further theft and then they just leave them.

https://9to5mac.com/2021/10/14/dude-wheres-my-car-airtag-finds-stolen-subaru/

hmm yes an article from an Apple advocacy website.
Well give it a try and let us know how it work for ya.

This particular story/incident was available on many websites and not just this one but I linked the first search result. In general there is a lot of information on people using it to find stolen items in general even though it wasn't the purpose they were made for in the first place.

So basically they are hijacking other peoples' phones and other Apple devices without the owners' knowledge or informed consent to attempt finding stolen property. Sounds a bit - funky - to me for lack of a better term. (Makes me glad I don't own a smartphone!)

It's not hijacking peoples devices in my opinion. First of all people can decide if they want to turn on the "Find My" option on their devices. Also, this whole process happens without sharing any information about anyone and it's just using the iCloud system so the whole process is anonymous and encrypted (people can choose to not always be signed into iCloud).

In any event it sounds like a potential rat's nest of vulnerabilities. I'm just as happy to have opted out of all "smart" devices and so-called "cloud" services. I guess let us know how it works out, though hopefully you won't have to actually put it to the test.

just using the internet and browsing websites or even having an email address means online presence and there are vulnerabilities with any of these; even if you don't intentionally use cloud services just using the internet means information about you is being stored on some cloud somewhere. or even assuming you don't use online banking but still your information is stored on a cloud so they can offer you services when you go to the branch in person. So technically speaking nobody has an option for complete privacy and avoiding cloud systems/services. But personally I would trust Apple a lot more with my information than many other places/services.