Slashdot Mirror
Thief Returns Stolen Laptop Contents On USB Stick
While it's true that Sweden is responsible for unleashing IKEA and ABBA on humanity, not everything they produce is terrible. Their thieves are some of the most considerate in the world. An unnamed professor at Umeå University received a USB stick with all his data after his laptop was stolen. From the article: "The professor, who teaches at Umeå University in northern Sweden, was devastated when ten years of work stored on his laptop was stolen. But to his surprise, a week after the theft, the entire contents of his laptop were posted to him on a USB stick. 'I am very happy,' the unnamed professor told the local Västerbottens-Kuriren newspaper. 'This story makes me feel hope for humanity.'"
Reminds me of when a friend had their radio stolen from their car, however, the thief took the time slimjim the door rather then bust his window. He even locked it up after he was finish. Just because you're gonna be a thief, doesn't mean you have to be a jerk about it.
This story makes me feel sad for humanity.
which is totally what she said
He took the time to scan money he stole from me and provide me a convenient pdf file.
I feel so much better about humanity.
10 years of work on his laptop without a single backup?
my butt! I'd feel it too if he had backed up his hard drive at home and wasn't commending a criminal who just stole his freaking laptop!
Is that considerate, or really creepy ? First you get your laptop stolen, then you get proof that the thief was rifling through your data and evidently thought some of it was important enough to back up and send to you at their own expense. I don't know if 'hope' is the right word to express what I'd be feeling.
A single CD being shared by two people? Sounds like copyright infrignment to me.
I have a feeling the RIAA lawyers will hunt down both perpetrators before the cops can finish their donuts.
A long, long, time ago, I moved into the campus dorms a week early to lay claim to the only network port in the room (yes, back then there was only one). Only thing is that the dining halls hadn't opened. I went out to grab a bite to eat and got my wallet pick-pocketed, leaving me without money for food for days. A few weeks later, a package arrived with my empty wallet, even with my credit cards, ID, etc... the only thing missing? Cash (of course), and the creepy part: the guy took all of the pictures of family and friends I had. Rather than making me feel hope for humanity, it showed me how creepy we can be.
The story of the thief who returns someone's goods with some opera tickets and an apology comes to mind -- when the victim goes to see the opera, the thief cleans out the victim's house.
Kinda makes me wonder if there's a rootkit on that drive for the purposes of emptying out this gent's bank accounts.
Also, wtf, no backups? ffs.
I'm listening to Abba right now, you insensitive clod!
In Sweden, stealing laptops is The Name Of The Game! Obviously, The Winner Takes it All except he brings back some of it's MP3 on a USB stick to the Dancing Queen, who had been sending out an S.O.S. She then says to the thief Thank You For The Music, followed by Voulez-Vous?. At which point the story turns to swedish erotica which is not appropriate to relate here.
-- Home is where you eat your heart out.
His butt was saved by an unusually considerate thief, but I hope he learns his lesson and makes backups of his life's work on a regular basis. There's really no excuse for losing 10 years worth of work because your laptop was stolen. What if the thing caught on fire? Or the hard drive self destructed? It's ridiculous not to back up something that important.
I read the internet for the articles.
It sounds like the thief would have been kinder to steal a newer machine for the professor, preload it with his data, and send *that* back to him. :)
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
But that might be Stockholm syndrome speaking.
Knowledge is power; knowledge shared is power lost.
im 35 years old, i listened to iron maiden at their prime, listened to metal for my teenage years, yet i didnt see any problem with abba even then. good music, is good music, regardless of genre.
Read radical news here
No, the quote was used in the wrong context. He was not referring to his laptop/data but his calendar which was in the stolen backpack that was returned by the thief (backpack with calendar, other documents etc) a few hours later. Then, a week later he also got the USB with his work for which we simply know that it was not backed up well...
Way to go Telegraph. Read this instead: http://www.thelocal.se/29636/20101015/
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
In Germany, wallet thieves often take the valuables and throw the wallet (with ID card and whatever else) in the nearest post box and it gets returned to its owner.
Saves the victim a load of hassle at least.
Expert in software patents or patent law? Contribute to the ESP wiki!
There's a surprising number of people who will classify entire genres of music as crap without considering that talented musicians can make an appearance anywhere. (Example: Prince. Once of the most versatile and talented musicians around today - largely disdained because his music is "pop" ). The funny part is that the same people will listen with steadfast determination to their own chosen genres, apparently deaf to the fact that the ratio of crap to talent is the same there as well.
Blah blah, theft, nice thief, should have backups etc....but I'm more concerned that he could fit 10 years of work on a single usb stick. I guess some jobs generate more data than others but that's pretty lean research work. I guess maybe some academics don't generate more than their own writing.
What he failed to notice is that the file where he keeps students grades have been slightly altered!
10 years of data on the laptop - are they implying that said stolen laptop was 10 years old? And thief bothered, not only to steal it but also boot it up? Sweden is scary sometimes.
...the country that brought us their massages, little gummy fish, and that legendary muppet chef, now brings us great höpen för åll thé frickén wöörlden. That is, until the professor clicks "gEt_uR_fiLezz_bäcken.exe" on an unfortunate colleague's borrowed laptop.
Flash memory is so efficient that you can store 10 years of scientific research on one USB stick. Now, that's progress!
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
What makes you think the thief returned it? He probably took the cash and tossed it and some university groundskeeper found it in the bushes and returned it.
That goes to show that we fear social networks sharing this same kind of pictures with the world, because it is like a one-way looking glass into our life for an interrogator's anonymous perspective.
A thief's anonymity protects them, while we feel compromised never knowing how this thief could return to our life, and how they'll exploit weaknesses found by their original break-in. That is the true reason why we reinstall Windows when spyware hits our internet connected PC's --er, besides the predominant "man-hours saved" mentality.
Contacting your victim sounds risky to me. Could report you to the police. Then the cops can put your fingerprints in some database. Then they can maybe trace the mail you sent, and start asking your neighbors about people who would fit the profile for doing this. (20s-30s, white, Swedish)
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Maybe the thief wanted access to the "unnamed professor's" data for whatever reason, but didn't feel justified in depriving him of it permanently. Maybe he also wants him to continue his research so he can steal more of it later. I'd tell him to take a good hard look at his colleagues and students.
A good friend of mine in Berlin had her MacBook stolen over a year ago. In May, she received a Facebook message from a woman in Tunisia who had bought the notebook, found my friend's personal data and wondered if it had been stolen. Originally the plan was to simply send the personal data, since my friend had already purchased a new notebook, but in the end the woman decided to ship the notebook to my friend in Germany without any compensation (my friend paid the shipping costs on delivery). The woman was apparently overjoyed at recently giving birth to twins, and simply wanted to do the right thing. I personally witnessed the arrival and unboxing of the returned laptop.
There are good people in the world. Whether you choose to be one of them is up to you.
www.gaiageek.com
He had 10 years of his work on one hard drive and didn't ever do any backups?
Wow.
It seems you can be really stupid and still become a professor.
Why would you think that anyone who hadn't backed up 10 years of irreplaceable data would see the danger in plugging in the USB stick?
I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.