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Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

theguardian.com

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Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

#91

Post by victorhooi »

mc808 wrote: post #6

I wonder if there is more that bicycle manufacturers/dealers can do to prevent theft or help recover stolen bikes - not because they're obligated but just to improve sales. Especially as the price approaches four digits, "what if this gets stolen?" has to be near the top of most potential buyers' list of concerns and probably chills sales to some degree.

I use a Spybike (http://www.spybike.com/)

Unfortunately, the company seems to have gone bust.

They have stopped responding to emails - and their tracker is 3G only - many countries have started to shut down their 3G GSM trackers.

There was one on Kickstarter before called the "Bike Spike" - however, it turned out to be a fraud, and the creators ran away with backer's money (I didn't back them).

The Spybike isn't bad - the big issue is getting a GPS lock in urban areas, long GPS lock times from a cold-start, and battery life.

Definitely keen to see what else people are suggesting these days.

Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

#92

Post by victorhooi »

Audiophilip wrote: post #37
jdblair wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've thought a lot about this. The problem with hiding the tracker in the frame is the GPS and GSM antenna will be blocked by the metal tube. There would have to be a way to get the antenna out (maybe a special bottle cage, with the antenna leads going through the lugs?). It would work for carbon fiber, though, and those are the most expensive bikes.

>The problem with hiding the tracker in the frame is the GPS and GSM antenna will be blocked by the metal tube. Not true, there are multiple battle-tested solutions out there, like these: www.spybike.com

I have one of their products.

It's not a bad product - but the company seems to have gone bust. They've stopped answering any emails, and the last news was that their Seat Post Tracker was meant to launch in 2012/2013:

http://www.bike-eu.com/sales-trends/nieuws/2012/8/spybike-se...

Their current trackers are 3G only - and most countries are shutting down (or have already shut down) their 3G GSM networks.

I'm definitely on the lookout for any replacements.

Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

#93

Post by PKop »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #75
s_q_b wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One problem is that, even if you have your device GPS tracked, it can be hard to get the police to intervene, especially in large cities. Someone once stole my iPhone 5. I had find my iPhone enabled, and the phone was locked down. The thief began texting me from his own phone, demanding ransoms ranging from $100-$1000 for the return of the phone, while aggressively threatening to throw my phone into the Potomac. So I…

You're a good person, and you also shared an effective way of retrieving stolen property that I'd never thought about before.

Either the thief is prevented from committing further crimes, or more people will have their property stolen by him.

There is a cost to refusing to press charges, paid by his future victims.

Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

#94

Post by mikepurvis »

dpark wrote: post #71
tlrobinson wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For this purpose you could just have the cellular module wake up every x minutes to check to see if it should begin tracking. Or use BLE and an accelerometer. If your phone isn't in range and the bike is moving then starting tracking. I haven't done the math but you could probably get away with recharging every 6 months or so.

I have to be honest. I'm seriously doubting that math you didn't do. In my experience GPS murders small batteries. And putting large batteries on bikes seems like a nonstarter for bikes that aren't electric assist.

But the GPS only needs to be active when the bike is a) moving, with b) the BLE phone connection absent. There are ultra low power motion sensor ICs that literally have a GPIO for "motion detected". Put that on the reset pin of your CC2541, and you'll be set for months of battery life.

Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

#95

Post by dpark »

mikepurvis wrote: post #94
dpark wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to be honest. I'm seriously doubting that math you didn't do. In my experience GPS murders small batteries. And putting large batteries on bikes seems like a nonstarter for bikes that aren't electric assist.

But the GPS only needs to be active when the bike is a) moving, with b) the BLE phone connection absent. There are ultra low power motion sensor ICs that literally have a GPIO for "motion detected". Put that on the reset pin of your CC2541, and you'll be set for months of battery life.

I am still doubtful but frankly neither informed nor interested enough to debate it further. Maybe BLE is more impressive than I've been assuming.

Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

#96

Post by PKop »

lostlogin wrote: post #79
x0x0 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet... A friend was walking in soma watching a video on his iphone. He noticed someone peering over his shoulder; the dude grabbed the iphone and took off. My friend chased him, and this is where it gets interesting. The thief, instead of outrunning my friend and/or just dropping the phone, punched my friend. My friend plus a bystander who saw the punch ended up chasing the thief down. SF police don't give a fuck…

This isn't a good thing - even if the thief serves half that there is no scenario where that outcome is a net benefit to society. However this view of mine may be venturing too far into politics.

This attitude basically concedes to accepting theft as inevitable, treating this type of crime as something that cannot be avoided.

Crime needs to be punished and deterred. An argument can be made that communities where property crime is rampant are not using effective measures to deter criminals.

Imagine how many fewer bike thefts there would be if, for example, Seattle put in place caning as a punishment, like in Singapore. This could replace long term prison sentences while also being severe enough to scare would be criminals. What's your solution to decreasing rate of thefts, if not prison?

Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

#97

Post by pyre »

PKop wrote: post #93
pavel_lishin wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're a good person, and you also shared an effective way of retrieving stolen property that I'd never thought about before.

Either the thief is prevented from committing further crimes, or more people will have their property stolen by him. There is a cost to refusing to press charges, paid by his future victims.

Based on this logic, he should have been killed rather than arrested. No future victims!

Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

#98

Post by lostlogin »

steve19 wrote: post #83
lostlogin wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't a good thing - even if the thief serves half that there is no scenario where that outcome is a net benefit to society. However this view of mine may be venturing too far into politics.

I think it's good that as a society we do not lock people up for years for stealing a phone. But I would love to hear from you what we should do of the people who commit assault? What is a woman was punched? or a minority (because they were a minority)? Do you honestly believe that prison for assault does not deter would be assaulters?

What does 4 years in prison create? Is he going to be fixed when he comes out and never do anything bad again?

Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

#99

Post by fian »

chrischen wrote: post #61
mc808 wrote: post #6

I wonder if there is more that bicycle manufacturers/dealers can do to prevent theft or help recover stolen bikes - not because they're obligated but just to improve sales. Especially as the price approaches four digits, "what if this gets stolen?" has to be near the top of most potential buyers' list of concerns and probably chills sales to some degree.

They could implement a system like iPhones (all iPhones register with Apple servers and lock up if reported stolen). Mandatory serial numbers, and make it illegal to purchase or own a bike without a serial number, or to buy a stolen serial number.

Expensive carbon bike frames can't be stamped with serial number. I have had a few carbon frames, I think only one had a visible serial number on the outside...on a sticker. None of the bike shops could provide a serial number at time of purchase.

Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

#100

Post by lostlogin »

PKop wrote: post #96
lostlogin wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't a good thing - even if the thief serves half that there is no scenario where that outcome is a net benefit to society. However this view of mine may be venturing too far into politics.

This attitude basically concedes to accepting theft as inevitable, treating this type of crime as something that cannot be avoided. Crime needs to be punished and deterred. An argument can be made that communities where property crime is rampant are not using effective measures to deter criminals. Imagine how many fewer bike thefts there would be if, for example, Seattle put in place caning as a punishment, like in S…

Why is the person stealing? Treat that problem rather than just punish the action. I'm not saying that there should be no punishment, just that long sentences achieve little. I don't think many people would call the US justice system a great success, so what's the harm in trying something a little different?
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