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Wifi and Laptops Adds Up To Theft
Ant writes to mention an SFGate article about the increase in laptop theft in the world of ubiquitous wifi. From the article: "San Francisco police statistics show a disturbing trend. Just 18 laptop computer robberies were logged in 2004, but the figure jumped to 48 last year. There were 18 as of the end of March, a pace that could surpass 70 crimes this year. 'It's a changing culture, and crime is following it'"
That there are more laptops, being stolen at the same rate. What does wifi have to do with it?
Attacking someone for their laptop isn't really any different than attacking them for anything else. This isn't new. Whenever you reveal in public something of particular worth, there's a possibility that some moron is going to attack you in the hopes of stealing it from you.
in Milpitas (McCarthy Ranch) that thieves have been targeting. They do there during lunch and right after work, and do "smah and grab" style robberies on cars. The target: laptops in bags left unattended while the victim shops. Police have had to issue special alerts to shoppers.
Put your laptop in the trunk when you leave your office, so that potential thieves don't see you place it there when you arrive at the mall.
If you consider that San Francisco consists of millions of people... is 18 really a lot? I mean sure, stolen property it stolen property, but the figures sound rather minute.
As laptops become more common, an increase in the number stolen ought to be expected. I didn't find it in the article, but an important number to note would be the percentage increase in laptop sales over the same period (2004-2005).
Sadly, PS/2 was yet another victim of USB, which doesn't care what you plug into it, the electrical slut.
In a recent speech Negropante said: "You see. When I said we were building $100 laptops for developing countries, you people assumed I meant Africa. What I was referring to was Caliifrnia. Have you been to some of the neighborhoods in LA? You can get killed for your shoes. In order to make it safer for folks in cities like San Fracisco where, let's face it, they cannot defned themselves, I developed this idea. Give them an etch-a-sketch interface, and an off brand of Linux, and NO self respecting thief would even bother.
Sure, thre will be the occasional bully who takes your cheap computer just to break it and watc you cry. That is life. But there will be no secondary market for these computers. EVAR!
I fully expect to win a Nobel for this."
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
18, 48, and 70? In San Francisco? I would have guessed that number to be several times that.
Hmm...actually, for 2004, there was nearly 5 times as many murders as there were laptop thefts. Moral of the story is that if you carry a laptop, you are 5 times less likely to be murdered!
While it is unfortunate that one person got stabbed for their laptop, I have to wonder if this is somehow being blown somewhat out of proportion. Yes there has been an increase in this sort of crime (at least in the SF area), but how long before Starbucks gets cameras and the like to make these environments less appealing to thieves? My guess is that it won't take long. After all, the laptop user is a user who is willing to pay for their coffee, which means that they want to keep that cash rolling in.
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
I'm thinking that its just because there are more laptops in general. Five years ago, laptops that I saw were not exactly mainstream, they were for business people, or people like me who can't leave a computer screen. (There are exceptions, as always, but.) Maybe because wifi wasn't as developed and people's main interest in computers is the internet, or maybe just because laptops are traditionally not as powerful as desktops. Now, it seems that when someone buys a computer, having a laptop is seen by most people like having a desktop but more. I don't blame them (see Macbook, yum), but I'm not sure that it's a culture change as they suggest. I think its probably the same ratio, there are just more people with them at all.
Besides, did anyone read anything in the article about wifi causing the problem as the summary suggests? It just said that wireless hotspots are targets for laptop theft..well duh..laptop theft is going to occur where laptop users congregate..
"Everything worth innovating today will go to court tomorrow."
Did anyone happen to consider that, since there are MORE laptops in the world, there might be more thefts?
Correlation doesn't mean causation and all that jazz.
(wtf - this is news now?)
Please check out my reasonably priced notebooks on EBay!
I'd rather have a full bottle in front of me than a full frontal lobotomy.
I'm not saying this is the only precaution one should take, or that it's guaranteed to work. But it's easy to do and increases the likelihood that some evidence will be captured. It depends on the stupidity of the thief, and those kinds of people often just aren't that smart.
I have a Thinkpad (pre-Lenovo, so it'a good one) with wifi, and a biometric figerprint scanner. Can I assume that I am at a greater risk of being robbed and having my finger(s) cut off?
That would really be the only logical conclusion.
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
I'd like to see the creation of a publicly accessable stolen property registry, to make it harder for thieves to sell their loot. Auction sites, like eBay, could require sellers to list the serial numbers, if any, of all items that they are selling.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Once again I think the summarizer has confused the words and thus the discussion.
The key word here is robbery, which means violence or intimidation being used to steal the property.
I'm sure the number of laptop thefts is vastly higher. I worked at one company in the south of market area a few years back that was broken into several times and lost nearly 10 laptops alone.
Seems to me there's a couple things one could do as a precaution:
- Load an application that would have the laptop occasionally contact a server to see if it's been reported stolen, and if it has been, start reporting IP and MAC addresses it hears on WiFi in its vicinity, connections it has made for landline internet, perhaps taps on email going through it, and so on - and turn on the WiFi transmitter to broadcast the occasional "Here I Am" packet for direction finding.
- Record the WiFi MAC address of the PC and sniff for it once it's stolen.
- Record whatever info the PC will use to identify itself to Microsoft if/when somebody tries to register/authorize a fresh load of one of their products. (Here's where Microsoft could do the law abiding a service by reporting IP address and date/time to law enforcement when a stolen machine is reauthorized.)
Sort of a software LoJack.
If the theives don't eload the software the PC will "phone home" once the ultimate recipient starts running it, and it will be trackable. If they DO reload it the may call the cops down on themselves directly - and even if they do workarounds they still need to leave enough identity info on the machine for it to be usable - and forgeries in a global namespace also leave tracks.
Wardrivers could do a service by reporting approximate locations of reported-as-stolen MAC addresses, as a starting point for a direction-finding bunny hunt. A public-service distributed application (in the same vein as SETI-at-home) could do the same - or could blanket userland with beacons of known location for a WiFi-only replacement for GPS that would let the phone-home software identify its own location (if it can't do that adequately via currently known WiFi beacons such as hotspots.)
Recover a few (and identify and question the people who got them, with the threat of a "receiving stolen property" bust if they don't cooperate) and police can work back up the reselling chain to the thieves.
And yes I'm QUITE aware of how such systems could be abused.
Note that some of these can be done privately and in a moderately secure fashion. (For instance: open source phone-home app with strong encryption, using an owner-generated key to enable its reporting functions.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
With iPods, I believe the "hide in the pocket" potentiral works more for the thief than the potential victims. People listening to their iPod usually have the signature white headphones (although some companies are coming out with copycat white earbuds because people want the look without necesarilly having an iPod) so thieves know pretty much who has one. The thief, once he has the iPod, can hid it in HIS pocket untill he knows he made a clean getaway. If this was a bulky laptop or something, it would be easier to yell "stop the thief with the laptio."
Although I suppose not being in a pocket does allow for some crimes of opportunity... setting the laptop down unguarded for just a minute while the owner goes to the bathroom, gets another cup of coffee, goes outside for a cigarette or... whatever... an iPod would go with the owner.
I'll never make that mistake again, reading the experts' opinions. - Feynman
I work at a large book retailer that has a well-established network of coffee bars outfitted with wireless hotspots.
This company loves for customers to hang out for hours (and truth be told, many hang out all day and night several days a week) because they invariably buy more stuff the longer they stick around. The longer they stay, the more relaxed they become. When it comes time to get a new book, many will simply get up and walk away from their unattended laptop for anywhere between 1 and 20 minutes (don't get me started on table camping). Many days I've stood there during slow periods in amazement at the amount of very expensive hardware just left in the open with no one to watch it.
It's inevitable that thieves will begin to exploit this as I've seen the same level of carelessness at similar retailers and sister stores in several states. There really isn't much I can do about it other than make friendly reminders when talking to customers - which risks offending the all-too-common customer with the over-inflated sense of self importance who finds any suggestion that they alter their behavior in any way (even if it will benefit them) as a severe insult.
I try to keep an eye on things, even though it's not my responsibility, and I'm usually too busy to notice what's going on in the seating area unless there is a major disturbance (in other words: never).
"Casual" laptop theft is going to increasingly be a problem, but not one that I fear to any great extent as in most cases it can be defeated with the help of common sense which itself is a rare commodity these days.
West Philadelphia to be more precise. I've seen cars broken for much less valuable stuff ... (like a pack of softdrinks, if you can believe it). Living your purse in a car in a conspicuous place is simply dumb around here.
The Raven
Everyone knows that it's the lack of pirates. Lacking their true career in naval piracy our potential pirates are forced to plunder laptops.
Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
That's way too much credit. According to the article, the kind of person who's going to stab you in the chest for your laptop is going to sell it on the street for two hundred bucks. The article did not say so but they are junkies. They are not going to take the time to turn it on, much less check that it works. There are other dirtbags out there, the kind who steal textbooks and sell plasma. They won't stab you but will steal your laptop just the same.
The only thing that will work in the long term is to not buy laptops off the street. If you see someone selling, watch out! Stay out of reach or you will be the next victim. Smile as you move away and say something like, "Wow, that's nice but I don't have enough cash right now." Do what you can to get where lots of people are fast. When you are clear, call the police. Long after people start watching these dirt bags and their dealers will still be passing stories around about making hundreds of bucks off such an easy theft. It will take a long time and many loser examples before it stops. In the mean time ... watch out.
I'm glad my laptop is a piece of shit. It's too bad a junkie won't know any better.
I'm going to stay away from places close to where the bums are for a while.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
That's why you need to know that some moron thinks your laptop is valuable. This has not always been the case. Paw shops have traditionally shied away from computers because they are tricky to fix and their value falls too quickly. Ebay has changed that. The reality of the situation is not as important as what the dirtbags think. It's a trend and it will spread as the bums migrate north and east for summer.
You also should know to NEVER buy a laptop on the street. No matter how good the deal looks. You are looking at a thief and you might be their next victim. Get away cleanly, without resistance, and report the suspicious activity to the police.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
40 people died in the time it took me to log in and post this. More were born, probably. Think about it. Not big in the scheme of things.
I make websites and stuff. Buy one.
So why not concentrate a few plain-clothes cops in the same areas and tip the balance the other way?
Police budgets being what they are, the cops aren't likely to be hanging out at coffee joints - there's always people screaming about how the cops have the wrong priorities. The police won't be spending much time on these "yuppie" property-type crimes unless someone dies, and then only due to the publicity.Just wait 'till the Intel based Apple computers come out. Then the pirates will be able to plunder "dual boot-y". Sorry. It's late.
Some see the vessel as half full; others see it as half-empty; We pour it out on the floor and laugh
It's nice to see someone taking the other side of the situation into account, but in my area, the starving muggers trying to feed starving babies are more like addicts looking to score cash for their next fix, or idiot kids looking to get their next $300 Sean John sweatsuit to wear to school. Unfortunately, the law does not make this distinction.
Your argument is in my opinion invalid, as there are much better ways to get food for your starving baby, or your next overpriced clothing article. We are not living in an impoverished country, and jobs (not necessarily six-figure, but jobs nonetheless), government aid, and private help systems (think food drives and charity locations) are readily available.
As for having to live for a month off of soup, please spare me. If these people were willing to work and use the resources made available to me, they could eke out a decent lifestyle legally for themselves and their families. The ones that resort to crime are in desperate circumstances (which is still not an excuse) or just too lazy to do something constructive.
And a victimless crime? Hardly. How many people have theft insurance on their laptop? How many want to spend the extra cash on it? Not I, and not many people I know of.
Perhaps if muggings only happened to the upper class, I would not be so concerned. Someone that makes $5,000 in a week is not going to be troubled too much to spend $3,000 on a new set of toys. Someone who had to work all summer for that one laptop or iPod (and, in my experience, students with a passion for tech like myself are much likelier targets because we have no choice but to go through dark, poorly-policed areas to get to and from school/work.)
Granted, my perspective is biased from having been the victim of several muggings and assaults myself, but here in NYC, the most common type of mugger is in high school, listens to 50 cent, and has absolutely no legitimate means or need to dress himself in $300 sneakers to show that he is "pimp" to his classmates, which he sees about once a month in class and about thrice a day smoking weed, an activity also largely funded by this type of action.
Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
Maybe if the city would figure out a way to get the 14000 homeless people in San Francisco off the street, there would be less stolen laptops. Priorities, priorities, priorities.
Ahh, Soylent Green powered laptop fuel cells. Some problems just solve themselves.
Help me take back Slashdot. When did 'News for Nerds' become 'FUD and Conspiracy Theories for Extremist Nutjobs'?
Police budgets being what they are, the cops aren't likely to be hanging out at coffee joints
I don't know what universe you live in, where cops don't hang around at coffee joints...
Next thing you know, you'll be telling me that Homer Simpson doesn't like doughnuts.
mmmm. doughnuts.
Okay here's an example of easy target. 4 feet 11 inch young girl, looks kind of hippy, but still reasonably wealthy. The mugger would be surprised with his blunt metal object, when the girl draws japanese short sword from her bag. If she for some reason doesn't happen to have that with her, she could simply break his leg with single strong kick.
There are many people who look easy targets but most certainly are VERY deadly. An granny that has revolver in her bag who is really paranoid of muggers can be pretty dangerous target. Then the guy with black suit can be either business man, or FBI.
Of course the skinny guy could be just a blackbelt in Tae Kwon Do. Or some ex martial artist who has forgotten all the non-deadly ways of self defence. [Which happens when you practice the strikes and kicks all the time, while the other techniques less often, the result for that is forgetting the practical self defence is quick but forgetting the deadly strikes takes decades.]
Then there is point of hitting a guy when his brothers with guns are in visible range but at the moment they just leave him alone for doing his computer stuff on the laptop that they know is important for his career, but they could care less about computers. But suddenly if someone tried to mug their brother...
Odds of negative consequences close to zero. Hell no. I'd say do it often enough and you get the negative consequence that is enough to overcome all the benefits from all the other times. Then there is higher chance of someone taking picture of the event and giving it to police and they find the mugger. Or someone takes picture and vigilantes search you up and sink you to the bottom of the sea.
Emacs is good operating system, but it has one flaw: Its text editor could be better.
Apparently, somewhere else is San Francisco