Ask HN: My friend's computer was stolen, and I might have the IP address. • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: My friend's computer was stolen, and I might have the IP address.

#21

Post by ck2 » Mon, Jun 21, 2010, 5:03 PM UTC

mcknz wrote: post #16

ck2 wrote: post #10

Real life cops aren't like TV. They might take a report but won't spend an ounce of energy looking otherwise, even if you have the IP. Then again it's Canada so maybe they are less lazy/corrupt than US cops.

Sure there are lazy cops, but it's more of a risk/reward analysis. There's such a small chance of recovering the laptop, and since no violence involved, it's not worth the effort when the loss is relatively small, and there are crimes of greater consequence to respond to and resolve.

Right, because so many greater crimes are given any effort instead.

Let's be more realistic and compare them to the slackers found at every kind job. But now imagine those slackers with supremely dangerous amounts of authority that are constantly abused and no-one can challenge, co-workers that will cover their ass no matter how big the lie, really good pay, really good benefits, incredible overtime pay, insane early retirement pay (while they work other jobs) and it's nearly impossible to be fired once hired.

Re: Ask HN: My friend's computer was stolen, and I might have the IP address.

#22

Post by mcknz » Mon, Jun 21, 2010, 5:18 PM UTC

ck2 wrote: post #21

mcknz wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure there are lazy cops, but it's more of a risk/reward analysis. There's such a small chance of recovering the laptop, and since no violence involved, it's not worth the effort when the loss is relatively small, and there are crimes of greater consequence to respond to and resolve.

Right, because so many greater crimes are given any effort instead. Let's be more realistic and compare them to the slackers found at every kind job. But now imagine those slackers with supremely dangerous amounts of authority that are constantly abused and no-one can challenge, co-workers that will cover their ass no matter how big the lie, really good pay, really good benefits, incredible overtime pay, insane early…

Now who's describing the cops on TV? :)

I agree there are some real pricks out there -- only trying to say that lack of effort on a stolen laptop is not a good test case for laziness....

Re: Ask HN: My friend's computer was stolen, and I might have the IP address.

#23

Post by gregschlom » Mon, Jun 21, 2010, 5:28 PM UTC

Well, that won't help in your case, but I wanted to share this story: last friday, my laptop was stolen in Paris. I was doomed. 15 minutes later, my mobile phone rang : some guys spotted the thief while he was trying to rob other people. The guys stopped him and got all the stolen stuff. They opened my laptop bag and found a little paper with my name and phone number that I had put there TEN years ago, when I purchased the bag.

So I can say that it's definetely worth putting your name and number on a paper card in your laptop bag.

Re: Ask HN: My friend's computer was stolen, and I might have the IP address.

#24

Post by Rusky » Mon, Jun 21, 2010, 5:31 PM UTC

ck2 wrote: post #21

mcknz wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure there are lazy cops, but it's more of a risk/reward analysis. There's such a small chance of recovering the laptop, and since no violence involved, it's not worth the effort when the loss is relatively small, and there are crimes of greater consequence to respond to and resolve.

Right, because so many greater crimes are given any effort instead. Let's be more realistic and compare them to the slackers found at every kind job. But now imagine those slackers with supremely dangerous amounts of authority that are constantly abused and no-one can challenge, co-workers that will cover their ass no matter how big the lie, really good pay, really good benefits, incredible overtime pay, insane early…

And I'm sure you know so many cops personally.

Re: Ask HN: My friend's computer was stolen, and I might have the IP address.

#25

Post by dave_lo » Mon, Jun 21, 2010, 6:13 PM UTC

pmikal wrote: post #18

I recently recovered a laptop because I had installed Prey on it ( http://preyproject.com/ ). It's free, sends you the IP, a webcam snap, desktop grab and attempts a geo-location. I also always install Microsoft's Live Mesh on my machines, which is helpful for remote login if one has gone missing. Free. ( https://www.mesh.com/ )

Will be installing Prey ASAP. Great recommendation.

Re: Ask HN: My friend's computer was stolen, and I might have the IP address.

#26

Post by jheriko » Mon, Jun 21, 2010, 6:15 PM UTC

ck2 wrote: post #21

mcknz wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure there are lazy cops, but it's more of a risk/reward analysis. There's such a small chance of recovering the laptop, and since no violence involved, it's not worth the effort when the loss is relatively small, and there are crimes of greater consequence to respond to and resolve.

Right, because so many greater crimes are given any effort instead. Let's be more realistic and compare them to the slackers found at every kind job. But now imagine those slackers with supremely dangerous amounts of authority that are constantly abused and no-one can challenge, co-workers that will cover their ass no matter how big the lie, really good pay, really good benefits, incredible overtime pay, insane early…

I have to agree somewhat, but its not slackers, its politics or something... there are plenty of places in the UK at least where a policeman could walk down the street and find 3 or 4 serious criminals in the act of committing a crime - they are never there. (from what I hear US is exactly the same)

Probably too busy making it look like we have security against the terrorists, who don't really exist...

Re: Ask HN: My friend's computer was stolen, and I might have the IP address.

#27

Post by ewoodh2o » Mon, Jun 21, 2010, 6:41 PM UTC

This really sucks. I had something similar happen last December, except the laptop was stolen out of a locked hotel room. Not a shady place either...skyrise elevator-access place downtown in a big US city.

Hotel was of little help, and police don't do much except write down the S/N and alert the local pawn shops not to buy the machine.

Best bet is homeowner's or renter's insurance. Most policies will cover something like this. If you're in school, your (his) parents' coverage usually extends to cover your belongings. I have the basic $15/mo type coverage from State Farm - the kind that reduces your car insurance payment by more than $15/mo under their multi-policy discount - and they replaced my 3 year old MBP no-questions-asked.

Re: Ask HN: My friend's computer was stolen, and I might have the IP address.

#28

Post by nathanb » Mon, Jun 21, 2010, 6:54 PM UTC

I'm assuming that the computer is running Windows and that you don't have something useful like an sshd, telnetd, or VNC client running on it. The IP address is only useful if you can connect to the computer in some way.

The one thing you know is that the mail reader is still running. Working on the assumption that it can't hurt, maybe craft a mail to the account to either fool the thief into installing software like Prey discussed on other comments here or to fool the thief into telling you where he or she is.

For the first one, just send out a mail saying something like "Click this link to install HOT VIRTUAL PORN". Make it look like the average spam mail (though not spammy enough to get filtered). Obviously you would need to repackage the Prey installer as some sort of porn software installer, which may be easy or hard depending on how silent the original installer is.

For the second one, post a Craigslist or equivalent ad offering to buy a laptop computer like your friend's. Then send a mail to your friend's account as yourself saying "hey, I saw this ad and I know you're looking to unload that old laptop of yours, so thought you would be interested".

If people fall for Nigerian 419 scammers, maybe your thief will fall for this. Assuming he's reading your e-mail.

Re: Ask HN: My friend's computer was stolen, and I might have the IP address.

#29

Post by uptown » Mon, Jun 21, 2010, 7:03 PM UTC

pmikal wrote: post #18

I recently recovered a laptop because I had installed Prey on it ( http://preyproject.com/ ). It's free, sends you the IP, a webcam snap, desktop grab and attempts a geo-location. I also always install Microsoft's Live Mesh on my machines, which is helpful for remote login if one has gone missing. Free. ( https://www.mesh.com/ )

Great suggestion with Prey. For the future, another idea might be to use Dropbox to deliver a payload that gets executed upon bootup. This would give you the ability to deploy and execute software that might help you locate your stolen equipment. Of course you run the risk of some malicious software being auto-executed if the folders you sync from become compromised, so that's something to weigh when considering this option.

Re: Ask HN: My friend's computer was stolen, and I might have the IP address.

#30

Post by johngalt » Mon, Jun 21, 2010, 7:21 PM UTC

The police won't do anything. We had a laptop theft where someone just walked into our building and started picking up laptops. He basically said "hey I'm from IT and we are upgrading, I'm picking up old laptops and then you'll get a new one in a couple hours." He walked out with 14 laptops.

We had him on camera, multiple witnesses. Our security found the ebay account where they were being sold and even tricked the guy into providing his address. We provided this to the police. All they would have had to do is go arrest him, but they wouldn't lift a finger.

Conversely, I worked for a bank for a year. And one night the ATM alarm was accidentally tripped, and the police where there in minutes with guns out.

The ATM only had about $10K in it, and the fourteen laptops represented a loss of $30k.

Q: So why was there response so much more aggressive for the ATM?

A: The banks pay big $$ to the local police departments to get that kind of response.