A coin-sized disc, twenty-nine dollars, tucked in a coat lining or a wheel well. It can tell someone everywhere you go. California calls that what it is: a crime.
Ava:
Michael, this one scares people because it's so small and so cheap. A woman gets an alert — "unknown accessory detected moving with you" — or finds a tracker in her car, and suddenly every place she's been feels exposed. What does California law say about someone doing this to her?
Michael Benavides, Esq.:
It says it's unlawful, plainly. Penal Code § 637.7
prohibits using an electronic tracking device to determine the location or movement of a person — and that covers a GPS unit or a Bluetooth tracker like an AirTag slipped into a bag, a car, or a child's belongings. When it's part of a pattern that makes you fear for your safety, it also becomes stalking under Penal Code § 646.9. Courts have read the stalking law broadly enough to reach exactly this kind of electronic tracking.
Why this is having a moment
Michael Benavides, Esq.:
Two reasons. First, the devices are everywhere and dirt cheap. Second, people sell modified
trackers online with the speaker disabled, specifically so the tag won't chirp and warn the person being tracked. That's not a gray area — disabling the safety feature to hide it goes to intent. There's even an ongoing class action over whether the maker did enough to prevent stalking, which survived an early dismissal, so the issue is very live.
If you think you're being tracked
Ava:
And this can support a restraining order too, right?
Michael Benavides, Esq.:
Absolutely. The same facts that make it a crime make it powerful evidence for a civil-harassment or domestic-violence restraining order. Small device, serious law.
Pink Data
helps California women respond to tracker stalking — preserving the evidence, reporting it, and pursuing restraining orders and civil remedies. If you found a tracker you didn't put there, we can help. Free, confidential consultation: 707-362-4166.
PINK DATA is a women's- and family-focused brand of the Law Office of Michael Benavides, Esq., California State Bar No. 270714. Ava is an editorial brand voice, not an attorney; all legal analysis is provided by Michael Benavides, Esq. General information about California law, not legal advice; no attorney-client relationship is formed. Verify current statutes. If you are in danger, call 911; the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233. ATTORNEY ADVERTISING.
