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bad news for thieves
Interesting article, making lives more difficult for thieves – which can’t be a bad thing.
Full StoryOriginally Posted by BBC News
As anti-theft technology increases, life is becoming harder for thieves. But will we ever reach the point where things become unstealable?
When Joshua Kaufman had his laptop stolen he knew exactly where it was, and who had it.
The anti-theft software that he had downloaded meant he could remotely photograph the man using it, and find its exact location.
The man was a taxi driver, later charged with possession of stolen property, although the charges were dismissed because of lack of evidence. The man's face, staring blankly into a computer screen, has now been seen across the world. People saw him sleeping on the sofa, driving, and lying half naked in bed.
Katy McCaffrey suffered a similar experience to Kaufman.
Her iPhone was stolen as she enjoyed a holiday on a cruise ship. She was able to see every photograph as it was taken and automatically uploaded on to her remote iCloud account.
Do thieves just need to become more tech savvy?
The new owner of McCaffrey's phone became the star of her Facebook album Stolen iPhone Adventures.
Like Kaufman's, the album was shared, tweeted and written about, so thousands could see the man with the phone partying with friends, teasing his girlfriend and photographing such things as the sunset and a plastic parrot.
It's not been established how the man came to have the phone, but he has since left his job at Disney Cruise Line.
Kaufman used the Hidden app which tracks the location of laptops as well as sending photos to the owner. But there are a slew of basic GPS tracking apps that present a formidable obstacle to the thieves.
Find My iPhone has been one of the best publicised apps, although there are a number of others, and also apps for Android phones. As long as the user has an app and has GPS enabled they've got a chance of finding their phone.
There have always been ways of marking your property, whether using a crude method like a UV pen or something more recent like the Smartwater marking system. But that relies on the authorities coming across the stuff in the first place. GPS devices are a significant step forward.
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