How To Catch a Laptop Thief? 485
First time accepted submitter otaku244 writes "I spent a day in Vancouver this week while working in Seattle. While I enjoyed the area, some Vancouver citizen decided to enjoy my Macbook Pro. Unfortunately, I didn't discover this until I was already back at my Seattle hotel. Needless to say, I am quite miffed at the whole experience. Fortunately, I have LogMeIn installed on that machine. I provided the IP address to the VPD, but they say that laws don't allow warrants solely on the physical address tied to an IP. It sounds like the silver bullet is to take a picture of the person using the laptop. The question becomes, how do I convince the guy to run a script that will take a picture of him and smtp it to me? I promise to post pics of the guy if this gets pulled off successfully!"
Hate to say it... (Score:5, Insightful)
But the best moment for you to take action is long gone - when you had your laptop in your possession.
Let this be a lesson readers, do something to secure your possessions now, install something to allow for ease of tracking and identification now, not as an afterthought when it gets nicked.
To the op, can't you just log in with LogMeIn and set a script running which takes a photo every minute or so?
Lazy police (Score:5, Insightful)
It sounds like the police just don't want to bother. If it was the MPAA, RIAA, or Apple asking, they would have a SWAT team there in under 5 minutes.
The IP address with location may not be sufficient for a conviction, but it does support probably cause. Why not see if you can go to the location, and then h
Don't you have sshd enabled on your mac with an appropriate 50 character password? Just use ssh to remotely do it.
Doesn't LogMeIn allow you to remotely control the machine? Use (ssh is preferred) that to set up a script that takes the picture, make several copies in several locations, copies the file via scp, and ftp to a couple of different locations. Then wait for him to log into different web sites so you can have his user ids, then have the computer take pictures.
Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
Translation: You're a nobody, and we're not going to spend our precious resources tracking down and prosecuting a small-time thief. Come back when you've got a friend in politics or the media.
If an IP address alone is enough evidence to file civil suit against someone for copyright infringement, and under the new proposals enough to have them disconnected without so much as a trial, I find it hard to believe that it can't be enough to be at least reasonable suspicion and thus grounds for a warrant.
Cheapo Netbooks (Score:4, Insightful)
Incidents like these are one good reason I use a cheap netbook when on travel. Not only are they light and get substantial battery life, but if it breaks or gets stolen, I'm only out $300.
I also find that I rarely get much actual work done when on travel, so I don't have the need for a more substantial laptop. I guess if you've really got the need to travel with a full sized laptop, you could mod the case to make it look scuffed and dated and hence not worth stealing. Either that, or get a ThinkPad -- even the latest versions look 10 years old.
Re:Hate to say it... (Score:3, Insightful)
If the thief hadn't stolen it, customs would have confiscated it anyway.
What are you talking about?? Customs only cares about expensive gifts, expensive items you intend to sell (including counterfeits), and items that might introduce invasive species or diseases. I'm an American who has been in and out of the US several times with my laptop, and I've never encountered any problem with customs. "abroad" is not some scary, law-less pit of oppression. Try getting out sometime.
Posting Pics? (Score:4, Insightful)
I promise to post pics of the guy if this get's[sic] pulled off successfully!"
Be VERY careful posting pics... If the pics you post aren't those of the thief, you could find yourself on the wrong end of a very nasty lawsuit.
Re:Hate to say it... (Score:4, Insightful)
One of my friends, a doctor working with MSF/Doctors Without Borders, had his laptop confiscated for pornography in his medical reference materials. They even graciously told him, 'If you miss your flight, I'll be my fault.'
Re:Hate to say it... (Score:2, Insightful)
He probably pawned it off pretty soon after stealing it..