Recovering a Lost or Stolen Gadget

gurps_npc writes "The explosion of portable electronic devices, can really weigh you down. Carrying a pager, phone, iPod, camera, and game is quite a lot. Worse, it gives you many more such things to misplace or get stolen. This CNN story discusses some of the retrieval services that help you keep what belongs to you. I particularly like the first one, about a new Singapore-based software that when you download it to your phone, messages everyone in your phone's database whenever a new chip with a new phone number is installed in the phone. This makes it very hard for someone to steal your phone as all your friends get their new phone number."

Comments

So...

[Tuoqui]

what is stopping anyone from deleting all the friends in the phone's list before they switch the chip? Or as I thought, doesn't the chip hold all that information on it (at least for SIM cards)

I'd like a means to deactivate the device

[mrmeval]

when I'm not near it. RFID?

Re:I'd like a means to deactivate the device

[ScrewMaster]

A small remote-controlled explosive charge would do the trick, just enough to remove the skin from the offender's hand and maybe break a few fingers. And, if he happens to have the thing in his pocket at the time, if nothing else he'll have trouble reproducing, which will help keep the population of phone thieves down.

Re:I'd like a means to deactivate the device

[TheRaven64]

The approach to combating mobile phone theft in the UK that seems to have worked the best is for each phone to have a unique code that can be transmitted to disable it. When a phone is stolen, you call up the network and they permanently disable the phone. A thief needs to make sure they sell the phone before the original owner notices it's missing, to someone who doesn't realise it's stolen. No one who suspects it's stolen will pay, since they know it will turn into a brick as soon as the original owner realises.

I often wondered why iTunes couldn't include a list of IDs of stolen iPods, and disable them on connection to the computer.

Re:I'd like a means to deactivate the device

[Dan541]

Dial *#06# and your phone should reveal its serial number Aka IMIE number wich the networks in Australia can and do block once the phone is reported stolen. ~Dan

Software solutions won't do it

[dalmiroy2k]

Software solutions/Dial home won't do it. Any respectable thief will instantly power off the device, put it in a metal briefcase, then when he is in a secure location will format/restore to default the stolen device in a matter of minutes and then sell it to the black market.

Re:Software solutions won't do it

[morari]

I somehow doubt that guys walking around randomly stealing cell phones on the street are "respectable thieves". More likely they're of average or below average intellect and are doing the occasional, petty crime purely for their direct, personal, immediate benefit with no grander thoughts whatsoever.

Re:Software solutions won't do it

[billcopc]

You and I may be clever and technically-inclined, but we are not thieves. The petty thief is no smarter than the average inbred. If they had any brains they'd be putting their efforts into the far more profitable field of white-collar crime. Why risk a criminal record and possible jail time for a small electronic gadget that's hardly worth anything in the used market ? Used phones have little value because they're crappy little taiwanese gadgets that simply aren't built to last.

I consider myself lucky if I can manage to sell off my used phone for 25 bucks, because in most cases the phone was "free" to me in the first place, as in "I bitched at the company and they comped me a free phone". It would be different if telecoms gave you a discount for using your own phone, but they don't. It costs the same thing whether you take the new free phone or not.

Re:Software solutions won't do it

[AusIV]

I put my money on the non-respectable thieves. I have a laptop that I take every where with me. I keep it close, and I have a lock for it when I leave it unattended (usually just in my apartment). But on the off chance that it ever gets stolen, I also have a daemon installed that will register it's IP address with a remote server as soon as it finds it has a new IP address. While I hope it never comes down to it, I suspect it would be much easier to track down my laptop if it ever got stolen than it would be if I weren't running that daemon.

A "respectable thief" would boot with a Live CD to collect my personal information before formatting the drive, but a typical thief would more likely just boot it up.

Like I say, I keep my laptop close, and lock it up when I can't, but I feel a bit more secure knowing my laptop phones home.

Re:Software solutions won't do it

[AusIV]

Ever heard of Lojack for laptops? It works on the same basic principle, and increases the chances of your laptop being returned from about 3% to about 75%. My method doesn't have a team to follow up, but I'd have more evidence for taking action.

StuffBak

[eck011219]

I use StuffBak myself (they're mentioned in TFA). Haven't had to use it yet, but their website is a snap to use and their labels are very affordable.

Ooops

[also-rr]

I seem to have lost my gadget for finding lost or stolen gadgets. I wonder where I left it? All I need to do is find my gadget for finding lost or stolen gadgets and then...

Ack.

I have a great solution that works perfectly.

[Lumpy]

I buy replacement and loss insurance on all my expensive items I also encrypt all important data. (cellphone requires a pin password to turn it on or use it)

If someone steals my PDA, they wont get the data as it's safe, and I get a brand new PDA. works great.

I just wish the security in PDA's were decent so that after 3 attempts it locks the PDA and will not unlock until it is resynched in the cradle of the mated PC. Palm and Windows pocket devices can be reset and sold. Phones are 100% useless on the black market (you do report and have your esn blacklisted with your cellphone company right?) PDA's should have the same kind of protection available.

Eh no

[Colin Smith]

You give the thieves far too much credit. Your average thief is even dumber than your average person.

Re:Eh no

[kestasjk]

Enter the iPhone

I'm sorry but....

[JamesRose]

You're clearly just compensating for having a massive penis

Bluetooth

[nanosquid]

There are various Bluetooth presence software add-ons that will lock your laptop, cell phone, PDA, etc. when it's out of range.

Car alarm for your MacBook

[floki]

iAlertU is definitely the coolest way to keep your MacBook (Pro) from being stolen. You can turn it on with your remote control like you do with your car keys. It even features the familiar car locking and unlocking sound. When someone grabs your notebook the fall sensor normally used to shut down your hard disk when a fall is detected activates, the screen starts flashing and an alarm siren goes off. It even snaps a photo of the thief with the built-in iSight webcam and emails it to a predefined address.

Be sure to check out the YouTube video of the software in action. It really made me laugh just because of the sounds. Can't wait to try that out in my university library :-)

flawed thinking

[petes_PoV]

This makes it very hard for someone to steal your phone as all your friends get their new phone number."

I believe most theives steal goods to sell them on, rather than to use them themselves.
In that case, so long as they can get ca$h for your goodies, they won't care who has the number after they've flogged it off. It's not as if they will offer a guarantee, or after-sales service.

The only real solutions are to prevent items being stolen, or to make it blindingly obvious to a potential buyer that the item is non-functional

This is a stickup !

[Joebert]

My buddy got robbed yesterday, we didn't believe him at first because he still had his wallet, but then he showed us there was nothing in the wallet & then showed us his new iPhone.

Interesting idea indeed

[ingo23]

"The explosion of portable electronic devices, can really weigh you down. .... This CNN story discusses some of the retrieval services that help you keep what belongs to you. That would be quite an effective method. You just follow the news helicopters to the site. The device may not survive, but at least it will give the bad guy a good lessson.

Re:Apple did the work for me

[Karthikkito]

I'm not sure you want to touch that iPod after it's been in a teenager's booty. =p