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Tracking Stolen Gadgets — Manufacturers' New Dilemma
heptapod sends in a story from the NY Times about a growing problem for the makers of high-tech gadgets: deciding when and how it's appropriate to track a stolen device. With the advent of ubiquitous GPS and connections to services like the Kindle book store, the companies frequently have a way to either narrow down a user's location or impede use of the device. But some, like Amazon, are drawing a hard line when it comes to establishing that the device was actually stolen.
"Samuel Borgese, for instance, is still irate about the response from Amazon when he recently lost his Kindle. After leaving it on a plane, he canceled his account so that nobody could charge books to his credit card. Then he asked Amazon to put the serial number of his wayward device on a kind of do-not-register list that would render it inoperable — to 'brick it' in tech speak. Amazon's policy is that it will help locate a missing Kindle only if the company is contacted by a police officer bearing a subpoena. Mr. Borgese, who lives in Manhattan, questions whether hunting down a $300 e-book reader would rank as a priority for the New York Police Department."
But as noted in TFA, this poses a problem, as it's too easy for someone to contact them, pretending to be you, and reporting *your* Kindle as stolen...
This is such bunk... I worked for a couple years in customer service for the cell phone industry. If you call and report your phone lost or stolen, it is automatically added to a black list and can then only be reactivated by you. It can not be activated on another account while it is on the black list and can only be added to the black list if it is part of an active account. The only time you need a police report is if you have the insurance program and you want to get a replacement under the insurance. This requirement is usually waived if it's the first time you have had your cell phone lost/stolen. I think I only took about two or three calls where someone tried to call in and activate a lost/stolen phone. Policy was that the original owner had to call in and report it as found. Plain and simple and logical. Any argument about someone calling in and pretending to be someone else being a problem is an indication of ulterior motives, as the user claims in TFA, or bad security policies to begin with. If it's easy for them to find, they should be asking people to file a police report, then have a couple of reps that work with the police dept to track them down after the police report is filed. Wouldn't cost them much and the rest could be sorted out where it belongs, small claims court.
Here in the UK carriers block stolen phones from their IMEI all the time, and have a cross-carrier list of such phones.
GPS Theft - Very Common Occurance
This story of GPS disappearing within 1-hour of leaving it in a car is something that I hear very often from many people who I have personally known to have their cars broken into because of this. Just two weeks ago a friend of mine took his GPS with him but left the sticky window mount in the car and his car was broken into and searched for the GPS but he had it with him.
Stolen Item = Revenue Restart
I'm surprised that Amazon doesn't just disassociate the user's account from the device until he buys a new one, and leave the lost or stolen device as available for new activation by the new person who finds it or steals it. Knowing Amazon's business ethics it would be profitable for them to active these missing devices to new users to restart the revenue stream from these users purchasing new books with their new accounts. As long as they don't tell anyone and nobody gets access to their information they should be good to go with this plan. Until someone rats them out for activating stolen devices, but who's going to prosecute them or fine them?
Misunderstanding Police - They're NOT Here To Help You
It seems that you are one of the many people here who misunderstand the purpose of Police and believe that they are an agency to aid individuals-in-need like yourself. The Police are not here to help individuals they are here to uphold the law for the common good of society as a whole. They deal with crime and apply the law en-mass to prevent the communities that they are based in from falling into chaos. It only appears that they deal with individual cases to the people involved and those who fail to see the big picture of how the Police apply their efforts to trim certain crime outbreaks down to manageable levels before focusing on other areas.
Even the US Supreme Court ruled that they police do not have to protect you as an individual from certain and imminent deadly harm because that is up to their discretion. So if the Police don't have to save your life why would they care about saving your property?
NY Times - [US] Justices Rule Police Do Not Have a Constitutional Duty to Protect Someone
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
Published: June 28, 2005
Take a good look at a Police officer tomorrow when you see one and try to realize that his job is to protect the community and society and that he has full discretion backed by the highest court in the land to watch you get killed or your property taken without having the obligation to help you in any way shape or form. When you come to this realization that not even the Police are here to help you, you will start learning and appreciating personal independence and you will start taking better care for your personal safety, freedom, and your property. The idea of taking responsibility for your own actions and more importantly, the ability to imagine future outcomes of your actions will start coming to you when you break out of the fog thinking that there will be help available anytime you need it. Learn to help yourself first.
My Lost Full GPS Enabled Cell Phone Experience
My wife left her Sprint HTC Mogul (PPC-6800) that has a full GPS enabled receiver in a bathroom at Universal Studios Florida. Within 30-minutes we contacted park authorities who came to the bathroom to investigate only to find that the purse and phone were missing. The office on duty said that the most common outcome is that the cash money is taken out of the purses or wallets and they are discarded into the trash cans to hide the evidence. They contacted the cleaning crew right away by radio but were told that the garbage was already taken out and cleared out to the back. My wife's phone was turned on in the purse so it was active. Calling it gave the standard 4-rings then voice mail response confirming that it was still operational and powered on, otherwise it would be 1
Generally speaking vehicular theft is seen as high priority in the police. When's the last time you saw footage of six police cars chasing down a pick pocket?
In this case it's not even about someone picking someone else's pockets - it's the crew noticing something left behind on the plane and thinking "I'm having that".