Data backup service leads to recovery of stolen laptop

Using a data backup program helps recover lost data but can also help get a stolen laptop back--if you're lucky.

A Berkeley, Calif., man recently recovered his stolen laptop after seeing photos the thief took of himself with the built-in camera via his Internet-based data backup program.

That's according to a police officer's article in an e-mail newsletter from Berkeley City Councilmember Susan Wengraf that was posted to the Web by open-source advocate Bruce Perens.

It all started on May 5, when the victim left his laptop in the back seat of his car (tsk tsk). Two hours later, the thief smashed the car window and grabbed the computer. It's not clear what else was done with the laptop, but the big break in the case came when the laptop owner later spotted the self-portrait photos of the thief on the storage service Web site.

Detectives working the case were shown the photos and recognized the man, who had been released from jail earlier in the year. They noticed that in the photos he appeared to be in a motel room and began trying to track down the IP address used by the laptop hoping that it would lead to the motel.

Before that could be accomplished, however, the detectives spotted the man getting into a car in a motel parking lot in Oakland and arrested him. In his car and the motel room they found the laptop along with stolen property from other auto burglaries.

Case solved.

[Michichael]

America's dumbest criminals. Getting owned by geeks one idiot at a time.

[Voice_Of_Logic]

America's dumbest people - "...when the victim left his laptop in the back seat of his car..." Uhhhhh, maybe we havent learned that you shouldnt do that? OH, thats right. People in Berkeley NEVER do anything wrong! Duh. That stupid action by the owner plus our wonder whacko judges let these people out of jail too soon, or at all, we'll keep seeing this garbage go on and on and on and on.

Your data and mine, sitting in some buffoon's back seat of the car (or taxi, or airport lounge, or beach chair, or ski lodge....) but never in an office, you notice?

[lordmorgul]

What??? Stupid action by the owner... leaving an item belonging to HIM inside HIS OWN car???

Wake the hell up people, this is a NORMAL and APPROPRIATE thing to do. Getting your car broken into is the crime here, not leaving items you own in your car. The owner is not an idiot for leaving his laptop in his car. He is not 'asking for it to be stolen' or doing something stupid.

I'm glad the owner got his laptop back, and that the guy was caught. I want to be able to leave my items in my car. I expect to be able to do that. I deserve to be able to do that, and the Constitution of the United States guarantees me the right to do that.

[dalef]

It seems that much, if not most, of the crimes committed are perpetrated by a small group of repeat offenders. The criminal in this case had been released from jail earlier this year. I think the states in the U.S. should institute what I call a ?10-10? law. The basic premise of this law would be that if you commit ten crimes within a period of ten years or less, you will be executed. By committing 10 crimes within 10 years it clearly demonstrates that the offender is incorrigible. Relieve society of the scourge of these repeat offenders and the U.S. (and other countries if they institute a similar law) would quickly become a better place to live.

This law should apply to all crimes, except for minor traffic offenses, whether shoplifting, auto theft, burglary, financial crimes (including those committed by CEOs), violent crimes, etc. in which there is a victim (i.e. someone has been harmed financially or physically).

[fdunn3]

@Lordmogel
"What??? Stupid action by the owner... leaving an item belonging to HIM inside HIS OWN car???"

Yes VERY stupid action by the owner, don't be so naive.

If you want something stolen out of your car (not to mention the damage resulting from the break-in) then just leave it in plain site in the interior of your vehicle. Doing so is an invitation to anybody walking by that you are an easy target. If you don't buy what I am saying then logon to your local law enforcement website and they will tell you the same thing.

If you have valuables in a vehicle and need to make a stop where you have to leave the vehicle then you ABSOLUTELY need to move the valuables into the trunk of the vehicle. If you have a truck then you need to purchase a high quality weatherproof secured utility box to PERMANENTLY install in the bed of the truck.

What he did is analogous to placing a 50" Flat Screen TV in plain view of open windows at your residence.

Believe it or not their are dishonest people that will actually steal property from you given the chance (I just wanted you to know that since you don't seem to be aware of this fact).
IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE IT AS HARD AS POSSIBLE FOR THOSE SAME PEOPLE, YES, YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.

Whenever I shop and have bags in the car or transport my laptops and have to get out of the car for any length of time I always make sure anything that looks worth pawning is locked in the trunk.

Thieves are looking for the easiest and quickest "marks" and using a center punch to break open a side car window takes seconds. It doesn't matter whether the vehicle has an alarm because people are so used to false alarms they don't draw immediaate attention, and by the time it does command attention the theif is long gone.

Whereas prying open a locked truck or utility box draws immediate attention from passers by.

Only a fool would make this statement:
"Wake the hell up people, this is a NORMAL and APPROPRIATE thing to do. Getting your car broken into is the crime here, not leaving items you own in your car. The owner is not an idiot for leaving his laptop in his car. He is not 'asking for it to be stolen' or doing something stupid."

I'll bet you leave you residence doors and windows unlocked because "It is a crime for anybody to enter without your permission" and/or leave all your blinds completely open so everybody passing by can see what valuables you have because you know that it is a crime for someone that sees all of your valuables to steal them from you.

This has got to be one of (if not the) most ignorant and naive posts I have come across.

[AySz88]

Man, you'd think with you guys being so worried about just the stuff in the car...wouldn't you be more worried about, like, the *entire* car? Might as well never drive it out, huh?

[AySz88]

@fdunn3, nice satire :)

[lennie22]

bwahahahahahahha, and the morale of the story is, don't leave yourf laptop in the backseat or your car.

[ikramerica--2008]

honestly. and I doubt this guy was a hacker, so how did he log on to this computer? no password? seems like this guy was one of the "dumbest victims" too, just not as dumb as the criminal?

[ngngokkiu]

Is this a security feature? If so it's ingenious.

1. Report laptop being stolen on web site
2. Next time the laptop is online it receives info from site and goes into stolen mode
3. Takes a snapshot of whoever is using it and post it on the site

[dreidogg]

It's called LoJack for laptops and Dell offers the service with all of it's notebook PC's. The cool thing is that it's built into the bios so it can't be somehow modified or turned off after you activate the service.

[lordmorgul]

LoJack for Laptops is a great service, but it does not take pictures of the theif. LoJack only reports the IP address of your machine whenever that changes. It can be circumvented but is not likely to be by the average thief.

Other options exist that are not paid services, such as iAlertU for macbooks.
http://lifehacker.com/software/theft/hack-attack-turn-your-macbooks-isight-into-a-ftp-backed-up-security-camera-207605.php

Adeona is a software that tracks your IP addressses just like LoJack for Laptops, but its free, open source, and cross platform. With LoJack for Laptops you must pay for a separate license if you want it installed on both WIndows and OSX on the same computer (dualboot macbooks for instance).
http://adeona.cs.washington.edu/

[clintbradford]

>> ... t's called LoJack for laptops ...

One cannot assume that from the cited article. It might be Orbicule's Undercover for Mac laptops - which received some recent press for a similar recovery case.

[David_Haney_860]

Why does our judicial system allow "career criminals" to get out. This guy will go to jail (for awhile) and when he gets out he'll just do it again. Society wishes people with low moral standards would change, and our judicial system is design to "teach" them a lesson so they will change BUT its doesn't teach them anything but how to be even more immoral. Our judicial system should be changed to "remove" verses "teach", immoral people. How about if you steal a loaf of bread, you die. Pretty soon all bad people will be gone ...for good.

[bigpicture]

They are developing a behavior modification chip to implant in their brains. But in the meantime the implant technology is just a GPS device to tell where they are and where they have been. This will require modifications to the Constitution so that repeat criminals loose their rights and freedoms. Before the readers go paranoid, just joking about all this.

[Dalkorian]

by David_Haney_860 May 30, 2009 9:33 AM PDT
How about if you steal a loaf of bread, you die. Pretty soon all bad people will be gone ...for good.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Is that your "final solution"?

[mnl1121]

We have a case of "America's dumbest victims" and "America's dumbest criminals" here. First the guy left his laptop in his car in plain view. He was just asking for it to be stolen. Second he obviously didn't have a password as the criminal easily logged onto his computer.

Then we have the criminal. Steals a laptop and instead of wiping the HDD he takes pictures of himself. NICE one idiot!