this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2024
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Because they couldn't. He bought the bag before they automatically tracked all purchasers with a unique ID on the bags they sell. The CEO of PD actively called the tip line.

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[–] [email protected] 95 points 3 days ago (5 children)

Why would I want a company to track my backpack? How is that a feature?

[–] [email protected] 50 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I don't think that 'tracing' here means something like 'there's a GPS tracker in every backpack'.

You could see this type of backpack in a CCTV shot. Later the police recovered a backpack - that they thought was the one on CCTV - and now need to find the owner. If it was registered at the company by the owner, they may have been able to say "oh yes, that serial number is registered to a customer. Here's their name and address they told us when registering at $date". If the customer never registered their bag, the only piece of information they could give out would (maybe) be something like "This bag was sent to an Amazon warehouse at $date, ask them if they know who bought these bags around $date"

[–] [email protected] 38 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Ah yes, product registration. Good to know me absentmindedly not registering is fighting against police tracking and CEO business strategy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

every bit of tracking you can get rid of will help in similar ways

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Except the "by the owner." The problem here is they are auto-registered at time of purchase.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Peak Design sells to third party resellers, so no, their products aren't registered automatically.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

They are when purchased from PD.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I don’t know this specific brand but because of this quote in the article I assumed it’d not be automatically registered:

“If you do choose to register a Peak Design product, and it is lost or stolen, you can reach out to our customer service team and have your registration erased, so the bag is not traceable back to you.”

Why do they say “if you do choose to register” if you don’t have a choice?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Because you don’t have to register it. Plenty of retail stores sell it and you can pay cash.

Many products say “register your product for your warranty”

Just to get your data. It’s not required.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Not all products have the "smart serial number" would be my guess. The v1 packs certainly didn't.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 days ago (1 children)

They don't. Nearly everything that you buy has a unique serial number, and if consumers are buying direct from manufacturers it could, in theory, link a consumer to a serial number. It's unlikely that they could make those connections, though. Peak sells direct, but they also sell through 3rd party stores and distributors, where there is an abstraction between the serials and consumers.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Old peak design bags do not have unique serial numbers, but batch numbers shared among many bags. Not defending PD, but if that's true, there isn't much they could've done to help with the investigation even if they wanted to.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

If you have ever registered a product you purchased with the manufacturer, you’ve done exactly that. They’re not talking about tracking the product after you buy it. They’re basically just talking about automatic proof of purchase.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

Yes, but the article seems to imply that data can be subpoenaed. Ergo despite their presumed positive intentions, it’s a noteworthy risk.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

If it’s lost you can report it. It helps get the bag back if someone finds it and reports it missing. It’s obviously a toss up, but there are honest people who try to return things.