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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?"
Move on with your life.
I think CorporalKlinger needs to learn the first rule of owning tech devices - don't leave them unattended in a car. If you can't observe basic security of your own devices then you kind of deserve to have it stolen.
You might as well just leave it sitting on a park bench. Thieves exist, cops can't do much about it. If it was stolen from your home then I'd have sympathy for you. If you don't have theft insurance on your car that covers items in said car then you should consider getting it if you refuse to observe basic anti-theft protocols.
That said, you might want to pressure your governments to stop using excuses to not follow up on crime. How can an university's rent-a-cops have more power than state or federal authorities? The university is within the state/country, the police are the protection for citizens of said state/country.
I know we don't have the same problems here in Australia, crimes that happen on an university campus are covered by state/federal laws, therefore are to be investigated by state/federal police.
Since the criminal isn't in the act of stealing the laptop... Your point would be what?
Oooh, Bob the Lawyer caught me. Oh wait. Never mind. You are a dismissive pedant that's a whiny little incorrect bitch. Ever heard of "possession of stolen property"? No, I guess not, that would require that you actually read, rather than skimming posts looking for someone to call wrong when you the one demonstrating that you are the idiot. But thanks for playing. I'll give your comments the attention they deserve. I was thinking about printing it out and lining the birdcage with it, but then I remembered I don't have a bird.
The real world is a much messier place than your fantasy one.
I'm in the fantasy world? You are the one asserting that you've personally "seen" multiple people die by harassing guilty people and innocent people. I think your definition of "seen" is probably closer to "just made up", as in "I just made up stories about people who've died doing that." How many dead bodies have you seen, and how many were victims of crimes and were trying to get even? From your fictions, it sounds like you've seen hundreds of dead people and every single one of them was harassing someone who wronged them (or they thought wronged them). Have you ever thought about moving? Or at least quitting your job as the janitor working for the mob that cleans up after their dead bodies. You know that makes you an accessory after the fact, right? Or is that why you are studying law and have such a great grasp as shown above, for when you finally get arrested?
Learn to love Alaska
I might have been wrong on that, but I did see someone else post a traceroute and I thought the last hops went to a phone company and not the cable line. If a phone company, they require a court order. Period. Cops have even managed to stop asking because they know it's illegal for the company to answer. I'm not sure on cable companies, as many do voice lines now, they would be under similar regulations. Only those with IP only and some VoIP services could hand out a name and address without running afoul of federal laws.
It's just easier to sue him as John Doe and get it legally and simply with a subpoena.
Learn to love Alaska