Seeking cyberjustice for stolen Sidekick

In yet another example of the keyboard being used as a crime-fighting weapon, countless blogs and online forums this week have picked up and reacted to a blogger's saga about his attempts to track down the T-Mobile Sidekick his friend left in a Manhattan cab.

It seems the person who ended up with the Sidekick proceeded to use it to sign on to an AOL account and take pictures. When the original owner bought a new Sidekick and put in her new SIM card, she obtained all of the information on the user of her old device, via T-Mobile's server.

Initial contact proved the user of her old device had little interest in giving it back. So the blogger solicited the help of the blogosphere in shaming the user into returning it. Always happy to weigh in on issues of morality, the blogosphere quickly rallied its forces.

The story continues to evolve, with the Sidekick still missing and police now involved. But the moral has already emerged, as best put by a blogger on Wolfpak.net: "Don't mess with geeks in their realm, for the geek shall inherit the earth."

Blog community response:

"The thing that I like about this is that it illustrates how insanely stupid it is to steal a wired gadget in this day and age. Inevitably, these things will leave a trace right back to your doorstep??and what's a Sidekick cost? If it's more than $500, that's a felony charge, right?"
--Things That I Like

"Our mothers stressed two things: don't steal and wash your hands after using the bathroom. Although we're sometimes lax about the second one--we're busy bloggers here!--the first is definitely a rule to live by. Turns out these people's mothers didn??t do their jobs so well."
--Gizmodo

"Each day that we accept more of this crap and refuse to simply say, 'No,' the problem grows. Turning our backs and throwing up our collective hands shows all of those who harbor ill will and disrespect in their soul that we will take it; go ahead and dish it out...It matters not if this is a scam or hoax, as many are hollering as they pound their keyboards. It matters that millions of people stood side by side and said, 'NO!'
--Look Who's Tattling Now