Open Source Adeona Tracks Lost & Stolen Laptops

An anonymous reader writes "Adeona is the first Open Source system for tracking the location of your lost or stolen laptop that does not rely on a proprietary, central service. This means that you can install Adeona on your laptop and go — there's no need to rely on a single third party. What's more, Adeona addresses a critical privacy goal different from existing commercial offerings. It is privacy-preserving. This means that no one besides the owner (or an agent of the owner's choosing) can use Adeona to track a laptop. Unlike other systems, users of Adeona can rest assured that no one can abuse the system in order to track where they use their laptop."

Comments

Reformat HD = Free Laptop?

[QuantumLeaper]

All you have to do is reformat the hard drive and now some one has your laptop for free.

Re:Reformat HD = Free Laptop?

[Verteiron]

Sure. This is betting on the fact that a lot of thieves are too dumb to do that, and either use or pawn the laptop without doing much to it. I'm willing to bet that's the case more often than not.

Re:Reformat HD = Free Laptop?

[ChowRiit]

I suspect you may be somewhat overestimating the average criminal's technical abilities or knowledge. Maybe if this became a common sort of tool and were used all the time, people might begin to learn how to avoid it, but I can't see it being install on more than a tiny fraction of a percent of laptops for the near future...

Re:Reformat HD = Free Laptop?

[Anonymous Coward]

you have to understand that half of the thieves will steal the laptop and go pawn so they can get some quick cash. the other half is interested in what information they can obtain from the stolen laptop in order to commit fraud.

it's these thieves that you have to watch out for and protect yourself against! i can always replace a laptop. sure i'll be pissed and upset, but the harm that the theft can do to me stops at stealing the laptop.

it can take YEARS and thousands of dollars to repair the damage identity theft can do.

Re:Reformat HD = Free Laptop?

[Vendetta]

How would it be illegal black hat activity on my part? It would be the fault of the douchebag who connected my laptop (that they stole) to this imaginary corporation's network. I'm not the criminal, the person who stole it is. Please, explain your logic to me.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

The challenge is set

[tttonyyy]

users of Adeona can rest assured that no one can abuse the system in order to track where they use their laptop

Honestly, publishing that on slashdot is like telling a small child "there is no way you can reach the delicious stash of chocolate in that cupboard right there"