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How Not to Steal a Sidekick
timmit was one of many readers to point out the story of a stolen Sidekick, writing with this excerpt from the site: ""When my friend realized that she had left the Sidekick in the taxi she asked me to immediately send a message to the phone saying that we would give a reward for the phone. There was no response. After a day of waiting, she had to go to the store and spend over $300 on a new Sidekick. When she put her SIM card in, she saw that the person(s) that had taken the phone had not only signed on to AOL leaving their name and password in the phone, but they had taken pictures of themselves." I can sympathize, after someone with the address Rmluckyguy@aol.com tried to sell me back the Visor Deluxe stolen from my car last year in Philadelphia. I hope Evan has better luck.
Ok, let's give the alleged thieves the benefit of the doubt. No matter what their story (and isn't it interesting to see how their stories change), it should be quite clear to them now that the Sidekick does not belong to them, and whether purchased from someone or found, they now have an object that has been reported stolen, making them accessories, no matter how you cut it. IANAL, but it doesn't take a shark to smell blood.
What makes this truly outrageous is that it doesn't occur to them that they've been found out. Thanks to Evan's website, everyone and his uncle knows about this:
From the web site:Update #12: June 7th, 7:00 p.m. eastern Sorry for the lack of updates...I answered emails till 1 p.m. and then had to leave to work...But I made it a short day so I could come back and give everyone an update..Wasn't that nice of me :-) Anyways.... I see that I have over 900 emails since 1 p.m. I will try and answer as many as I can. I will also add all the links you sent me to the ones below...I quickly scrolled though and must have counted at least 100-200 new links. I also have received emails from people offering me ISP hosting...As of right now, I should be good. I have unlimited bandwidth with this company...and so far I have not gotten the "digg" effect.(almost 3,200 at least count!). I have also talked to some radio stations. New York's 1010 WINS being one of them. Interviews are being scheduled for this week.
They might have been able to save face once they were "caught," but now it's going to be impossible. What's worse, they're stupid enough to keep using the thing, compounding their trouble!
It goes to show the power of the Internet though; once something is out there, the information is global in minutes. And there are pictures! These folks are not going to be able to hide for a long time... unless they wind up in a penitentiary somewhere.
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
I love how this goes to show how easy it is for anyone to find out information about you, and the people you know with social networking sites. You had better think twice about creating a myspace page if ever engage in any kind of criminal activity no matter seemingly small or insigificant it is. Granted the people who were involved here were exceedingly stupid. Cue up the "stupidity of people on myspace" jokes....
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro" -Hunter S. Thompson
Exactly. And the thieves are dead wrong thinking NYPD has bigger fish to fry. NYPD dispatched a detective to come and arrest an employee at my mom's shop in Manhattan who skimmed $38 from the till. We had the whole thing on the surveillance DVR. Basically, if you collect good evidence and hand them a case that they can chalk up a win on, they will do it. I think our boy has done exactly that. They will be in custody soon. The funny thing is how they multiplied this from a simple misunderstanding where they could have said "sorry, here's your Sidekick back", to now having multiple charges to answer to. I wouldn't put it past an NYC ADA to subpoena a paternity test to see if the guy should be charged with statutory rape.
cat
Once the rightful owner contacts you requesting its return, and you flat-out refuse because their "white ass doesn't deserve it", yes. At that point it's stolen.
They're scum for not returning it. They're idiots for not returning it when a reward was offered.
Boundless Expansion, Self-Transformation, Dynamic Optimism, Intelligent Technology, Spontaneous Order- BEST DO IT SO!
I've been following this since the day it happened (not long ago anyway) and I am beginning to suspect that this may be a fake, and even if it isn't, Boy what a great con idea.
Hear me out
The guy continually writes that he's not looking for fame and fortune, but goes on to list all the people who have pointed this out and what news outlets are looking to interview him. Bemoans the fact that he isn't on TV yet, and says he's not looking for fame in the same breath. Hmmm...
He then goes on to state over and over that he's not looking for money. That people suggested putting up a donation link, but he won't do it.... yet he doesn't hesitate to supply information regarding what everything costs over and over. Now, finally, that the number of people viewing has grown large enough he springs the 'Okay, you can donate, but only if you can afford it.'
Maybe I'm too cynical, but what's to stop someone living in corona (maybe it's the girl in the pics!) from pulling something like this? Set up a few phony myspace accounts and boom, good to go. You can make thousands off of the internet donation effect... why not?
You make the assumption that she bought her own SIM card, had that been the case, this story would never exist. Ms. Booty is using the original SIM card (or was anyway) that was in the 'recovered' phone. Regardless... Getting the phone originally was not on the up and up. Once the original owner (or friend) had identified to the current possesor that the phone had been ill-gotten, they should have made arrangements to return it, especially being that the timing was all together.
It wasn't like she bought a brand new phone, and the first message she ever received was from some whack-job harrassing her.
Mr Army and Ms Booty and Mr Tubs McGee brought this onto themselves... I say turn over everything to the cops, and allow it to run its course.
harryk
think before you write, it'll save me moderator points.
Some thieves stole a camera, among other things, and spent the rest of the night taking pictures of themselves
committing other crimes.
One of them was caught a few days later, with my camera. The police returned my camera, and when I checked the memory card, I found that it contained a number of pictures of the two guys who had taken pictures of each other, breaking into cars and houses, all very clear and recognizable. It was obvious that the police had not inspected the camera memory.
The guy that was caught, had tried to claim that the camera was his, and when they pressed him with the evidence they had, he eventually admitted to one car break-in, and insisted he was alone. The date-stamped images on my camera told a different story. It was actually very satisfying to show this stuff to the detective. But, he made it clear to me that thieves doing stupid things is not at all unusual.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Isn't posting these pictures without permission strictly speaking a copyright violation? I mean, they're not his photos ...
Although fair use, I guess, could be argued, and damages (if any) would be minimal. Plus, of course, the guy could cross-sue with all sorts of neat stuff ...
But even so, technically ... isn't this arguably a violation?
Perhaps I'm missing something here but something in this article doesn't make sense. Supposedly, the person left their sidekick in a taxi and eventually had to go and buy a new one. Then, when they put their SIM card in, they noticed the person was signed in to AIM and had taken pictures of themselves. This is where I have some questions: 1: AIM signins are saved on the phone signing in. Signing in from another phone would not tell you someone was logged into AIM under another name because there would be no signin data on the new phone and new SIM card. 2: Pictures are saved on the SIM card or on the phone on which they are taken. They would not be available on the new phone and new SIM card. Unless I'm missing something here, this story sounds fishy.
Anthony Papillion
Advanced Data Concepts, Inc.
"Quality Custom Software and IT Services"
That's an interesting legal question. If you create a work with someone elses stolen property, who owns the work. If you steal my camera (and film) and take a picture, do you get to keep the pictures, or are they also mine when/if I get the camera back.
To extend that out, does a music recording made with a stolen guitar become the players, or the owners?
In this case, though, since the photos are uploaded as part of a service (T-Mobile) and that service belongs to the legal owner, I would think the EULA and TOS of T-Mobile would apply. I wonder if those would shed a better light on it.
Or it may be even easier to answer. The service copies the works to anywhere the legal user of the service wants, so in effect, the one who took the pictures has given copy rights to that legal owner, I would think. Even if they didn't know the TOS, i don't think they can claim exception to it by another crime (their theft). Just as you can be help responsible to crimes you commit while under the influence of a drug.
Does that make any sense?
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Depends on that particular chain of command, really. I've seen CO's not do a damn thing if they figure it won't come back to bite them. The guy definitely doesn't sound like an officer, so a wise move above and beyond reporting the incident(s) to his CO would be a few well-placed phone calls to his First Sergeant and Sergeant Major (this is all if you can find out what unit he's in, of course) to help get the ball rolling.
One of my chaplains once said in a new soldier orientation: "In a world of good things and bad things, if the battalion Sergeant Major has to talk to your NCO about you, that is a very bad thing."
http://publicvoidlife.blogspot.com
The subject is now in jail with 2 felony charges and some misdemeanor charges.
Here's how it went down. A week ago I was at a gas station talking with my fiancee in the car while the tank was filling up. My phone was on the sidepocket of the door (the armrest thing on the door) and the door was open. I know, stupid move. But I had been really paranoid about losing it cause I had just bought it so I was checking on it every 30 seconds ago so I figured it was safe enough. The tank finally finished filling so I exited the car and that's when I noticed that my phone was missing.
I did that whole thing where you check the ground and your pockets and begin to freak out. Then I remembered some dude had walked right by our car maybe 30 seconds before I saw it missing. I looked on the other side of our pump and there was this 40+ something Hispanic gangsta dude with tattoos all on his neck asking some people for money for his "Car that broke down."
In his breast pocket I could see what appeared to be the outline of my phone. He saw me looking at him and approached me and gave me some cockeyed story about how he ran out of gas and if I could only spare a dollar or so it would really help him. I told him I was busy at the moment if he would wait for me "over there" (out of earshot) I would be with him and maybe I could help him.
I looked at my fiancée and said, "Call my cellphone."
She asks what's going on.
I tell her just to do it.
So she calls my phone.
As I approach the guy I hear, clear as day, the techno ringtone coming from his breast pocket.
Damn I love how loud that thing is.
I get in his face and tell him to give me my phone back.
He looks confused.
I point at his pocket and say, "You stole my phone, give it now."
He pulls it out of his pocket, gives it to me, and says, "Oh no man, I found this over there." (points to the opposite side of the gas station).
"No you f*cking didn't. You stole that phone from me asshole. Don't play stupid fess up."
"No man, I don't know what you are talking about. Look, can you spare me some money or what?" [he's trying to avoid the discussion]
"You just f*cking stole my cell phone. You know how much that thing cost me? What, you think I'm rich or something?"
At this point everyone in the gas station is looking at us cause I'm berating this punk and getting ready for a showdown.
"Dude, if you don't want to help me that's fine."
He starts walking across the street to another gas station to evade me.
I look at my fiancée and say, "Call 911."
I chase after the guy and call 911 myself and explain to the dispatcher what is happening. I'm no more than 5 feet behind this guy at all times while he's trying to evade me and people are wondering what's going on. At one point he comes at me in a threatening manner saying, "Man- Who you on the phone with!?" I tell him I'm calling the police.
The dude runs back across the street and I run back after him weaving through traffic. He gets in a nice newer Nissan Maxima and I jump in front of the car and read off the plates to the dispatcher. The asshole tries to run me over with his f*cking car, peels out, and speeds away.
By this time everyone in the gas station is in total awe looking at what unfolded before them.
It takes forever to get the Sheriffs there but I'm pleased with the way they respond and handle the situation. They take a report from myself and witnesses. They later call me and tell me the license plate was registered to this guy's daughter. They went to her address and she told him to check at the ex-wife's. When they get there they find the dude. They discover heroin paraphernalia in his vehicle.
They book him with Theft, drug, and assault with a deadly weapon (his car).
What a day.
The dude picked the wrong guy to f*ck with. In two weeks I'll be in police academy.
Watch out for your stuff people. People are not always as they seem.
Just to reinforce your point, I've seen the OKCPD do the same thing... over a stupid little cell phone... Evidently they don't take kindly to threats and extortion.
Believe it or not, these guys found my friends Cell phone, used it, and when they were contacted by "Us" they would only return it if we promised to pay a certian sum of cash... So we called the cops, they had us set up the meeting, they staked it out, and when the thieves took the money... I shit you not atleast 10 cops came out of the woodwork including one undercover in street clothes and 4 squad cars... Kewlest thing I've ever seen on a friday night.
All for a cell phone... Moral: Don't steal phones in oklahoma cause the OKCPD gets bored...