Slashdot Mirror
Filmmaker Installed Security Software On a Decoy Phone To Spy On Smartphone Thieves (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader writes from a report via The Verge: Dutch film student Anthony van der Meer had the unfortunate pleasure of having his phone stolen while having lunch in Amsterdam. Unsatisfied with the response from the Amsterdam police, who register an average of 300 stolen phones per week, Meer decided to find out what kind of person steals a phone. He downloaded DIY security software on a decoy Android phone, intentionally got the phone stolen, and was able to spy on his thief for weeks. He recorded the ups and downs of his covert investigation and turned it into a 22-minute documentary called Find My Phone. Meer preloaded the decoy device with an anti-theft application called Cerberus, which allows the owner of the device to access any file on the phone remotely, as well as discretely activate the phone's camera and microphone. Meer and his friends were able to navigate the technicalities of surveilling the thief with relative ease. They even snapped a close-up of the guy's face. The hard part, it turns out, was getting the preloaded phone stolen in the first place. It took Meer four days to get his device pilfered in a city with high rates of theft because concerned citizens kept coming to his rescue.
The "little shit" was a middle aged man. And perhaps it's different where you live, but in the Netherlands being the victim of a crime does not imply one is free to commit crimes against the perpetrator. Recording conversations is not allowed without permission unless you're a participant in the conversation according to Dutch law. Secretly photographing or filming people in private settings also isn't allowed. Yes, the film maker broke laws, and no, being the victim of theft does not make it legal to do so. I don't feel sorry for the thief at all, but that doesn't make it legal.
Interesting detail: the first location where the film maker thought the thief probably lives is just around the corner from where I live. I didn't recognise the guy, though.