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Retrieving a Stolen Laptop By IP Address Alone?
CorporalKlinger writes "My vehicle was recently burglarized while parked in a university parking lot in a midwestern state. My new Dell laptop was stolen from the car, along with several other items. I have no idea who might have done this, and the police say that without any idea of a suspect, the best they can do is enter the serial number from my laptop in a national stolen goods database in case it is ever pawned or recovered in another investigation. I had Thunderbird set up on the laptop, configured to check my Gmail through IMAP. Luckily, Gmail logs and displays the last 6 or 7 IP addresses that have logged into your account. I immediately stopped using that email account, cleared it out, and left the password unchanged — creating my own honeypot in case the criminal loaded Thunderbird on my laptop. Sure enough, last week Gmail reported 4 accesses via IMAP from the same IP address in a state just to the east of mine. I know that this must be the criminal who took my property, since I've disabled IMAP access to the account on all of my own computers. The municipal police say they can't intervene in the case since university police have jurisdiction over crimes that take place on their land. The university police department — about 10 officers and 2 detectives — don't even know what an IP address is. I even contacted the local FBI office and they said they're 'not interested' in the case despite it now crossing state lines. Am I chasing my own tail here? How can I get someone to pay attention to the fact that all the police need to do is file some RIAA-style paperwork to find the name associated with this IP address and knock on the right door to nab a criminal and recover my property? How can I get my laptop back — and more importantly — stop this criminal in his tracks?"
Campus police, with their own jurisdiction?
That is really fucked up.
Here in .au we have campus security and all other matters are handled by the local police force.
Strewth I'm glad I dont live under the US legal system, with its elected judges, private prisons,
the death penalty still practiced after all the civilised countries stopped and a jurisdictional nightmare.
You say that like it's a bad thing.
It's a bad thing when you register a .09 when the limit is .08 and then you have a DUI.
Its always a bad thing when you pilot a 3000 lb missile down the road intoxicated, whether you blow a .02 or a .20. What kind of asshole can justify driving just a little drunk. I've lost too many friends to jerkoffs coming home from happy hour just a bit drunk not paying enough attention to where they are going. I'm up for mandatory 5 year license suspensions for DUI convictions, if you care so little about the people around you to pilot a 3000 lb death machine while drunk you deserve to have your license taken away.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ajb5_9l7paU
Sometimes even getting there in time doesn't help much
It's The Golden Rule: "He who has the gold makes the rules."