doylez.com

they used a picture of sarah palin in a recent newscast. oh wait. that’s not sarah palin – it’s tina fey from saturday night live!

1] oakland guy set up a blog to show exactly where his stolen laptop is, but OPD won’t check it out because of limited resources [tumblr]

(some folks thought it was a marketing stunt by the company to sell more of its software, but apparently was not)

2] intense internet publicity and negative reaction towards OPD

3] OPD says that they ‘accidentally’ closed his file and send someone out to pick thief up [sf gate]

4] Thief arrested. Laptop returned.

There’s obvious value in a piece of software that will track it’s location and send the information back to the owner to assist law enforcement in recovering your stolen laptop. Even the publicity of this case might make a thief think twice before stealing your Mac off a table at the coffee shop. Some software is open-source and some have a monthly fee attached, so you can try the one that fits you best:

[Hidden]

[PreyProject]

[Undercover]

But what about malicious use of such software?

-> What about the insecure wife loading it on the husband’s computer to check on his whereabouts and Internet activity?

-> What about the horny guy loading it onto a female friend’s laptop to take secret pictures, maybe when she’s changing?

-> What about a disgruntled worker loading this on his boss’s laptop to catch up on personal and company confidential information?

This is a tough one to make a call on.