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"Back To My Mac" Catches a Thief
robipilot writes "Mac stolen, Mac comes online, owner connects using 'Back to My Mac,' owner takes picture of culprit, and voila, criminal caught. OK, it wasn't quite that simple, but here's an interesting story of using some built-in technology on the Mac to recover a stolen laptop."
Thousands of peepholes for the guys in Cupertino to look through...
What?
I'm curious to know how would taking a picture of a musical instrument help in this matter...
I know, this being Slashdot we have to worry about the privacy issues, compare the Mac to somebody's Vista laptop, disparage the cops, fret about security in general, and not fail to point out that a viola is indeed a stringed instrument.
But there's just something so damned satisfying about imagining these two thugs being caught red-handed with the loot. There's the impression of the victim realizing that she may be onto something. Her "Now I've got you, you son of a bitch!" as the fatal snap takes place. The "Oh, shit" realization of the thief, probably followed by frantic thoughts of how he might go about flushing two widescreen TV's and assorted recreational electronics. The genuine gratification of being able to walk into the police station and say, "Here are photographs of the guys who ripped off our stuff, actually using some of our stuff, and we know who they are..." Perhaps then the THUD THUD THUD at the malefactors' door.
It's got all the elements of the classic cautionary tale, and just reading it should bring at least a brief and sarcastic smile to the face of anybody who's ever been robbed.
"Here's what's happening. You're starting to drive like your Dad..." - Red Green
a) She lives on Ridgeview Avenue.
b) She's at the edge of the city's downtown.
c) Many of the homes in the area have been renovated recently.
d) She lives in a colonial-style house.
e) The house is diagonally opposite a church.
If that's not enough info: One of the laptops was a Macintosh belonging to Kait Duplaga, who works at the Apple store in the Westchester mall and thus knows how to use all its bells and whistles. Just tail her from where she works.
The only info in this that's actually relevant is the fact that she works at an Apple store, and that's she did not wish to be interviewed. The rest is either a reporter padding an article with irrelevant information, or attempting to indirectly violate her right to privacy.
Either way, very poor journalism.
Don't tell me to get a life. I had one once. It sucked.
I run Ubuntu on my home PCs and changed the default login screen to list the users. I created a 'Guest' account and in it's description I put 'Password = 123qwe' (not the real password). The assumption is that a burglar , not knowing much about OS'es, will want to use the PC and will choose the easiest path to gain access. When they turn the PC on the login screen gives them a list of users and an option of choosing "Guest Account with the Password shown. All household users have been told to *never* use this account and why.
This 'Guest' account is CharRooted and has Firefox, IM and other Internet clients all on the desktop but that's about it. Under the hood it opens up SSH, VNC, Terminal Server and every other conceivable way of gaining access. It starts a script that every 30 minutes emails my Gmail account with IP address and connection information. Also, logging on to this account invokes a 'Nuke' scrip that will DBAN type wipe the system if I don't deactivate it within 7 days.
It's not a perfect solution but it has all the capabilities and features of the subscription tracking services that can cost hundreds a year and it's all pretty easy to setup. If any thief steals my PC and uses it to connect to the Internet I will know everything about their connection and have full access to the machine. If it's truly lost and I can't regain control after they login, it self destructs.
Now that I thinks about it, this should be a Ubuntu package or at least a HowTO.
-[d]-
I probably shouldn't...
The violin wasn't invented until many centuries after the burning of Rome. Nero did play an instrument, a cithra I believe it is called, and did consider himself to be quite a musician. (Oddly I don't recall any mention of his skill level in my studies, just that he was passionate and competed and organized competitions.)
Titicus (spelling?), the historian, was pretty clear in what Nero really did during the burning of Rome. He was much more effective than, say, FEMA. He rushed down, helped to fight the fires, gave shelter, and provided food at either a discounted or free rate. I'm not entirely sure if it was free or discounted and I lack the initiative to look this stuff up.
So, while the idea of a tyrant (which Nero certainly was) ignoring the plights of the people makes for great copy it just didn't happen that way. What did happen is that Nero used this fire to persecute the Christians but that was after the fire when the people were looking for someone to blame.
Anyhow... To the point... Err... Wait, no... I didn't have a point.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
We care because I have it on good authority that women often use their Macs after having just come out of the shower, a good workout, being smeared in grits, rolling in Jell-O, bathing in whipped cream, and/or while do a self-breast exam. That's why we care!
You act like you haven't had your domain sqatted on by Jenny's Personal Co-Ed Webcam Sexperience after missing a payment that one time that it happened to me.