Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Smile - you're on a stolen camera
In the June 12, 2008 post below I blogged how stolen technology could could virtually phone home. Well, the stories continue. And it almost makes you want to subscribe to a service so that if your tech toy is lost, it too can provide you with its location, complete with pictures.
Ashlee Hutchens was driving around Cincinnati and was lost. When she pulled over to reorient herself, a man stole her cellphone. Giving up all hope of recovery Ashlee and her mom went to buy a new Sidekick model to replace the stolen one. They were able to download the memory from the old phone, to the new phone. And Ashlee identified one of the new camera phone pictures as the man who'd stolen her phone. She commented he was even wearing the same shirt. The picture was on the local Crime Stoppers and the thief was identified and apprehended.
Martijn Van Es, who is a Web editor for Amnesty International in the Netherlands, lost his phone. Martijn subscribes to ShoZu which automatically uploads pictures taken from his phone to his Flickr account. Friends were asking why he was uploading photos of teenage boys. Well, Martijn wasn't, but the kids who had his phone were. Police said that even if they could identify these kids, they wouldn't know if the kids stole it, or found it. The former is a crime, the latter is not. So they were of no help.
Martijn decided some "crowd-sourcing" was in order and he began putting the photos on his blog in hopes they could be identified, and he could get his phone back. Soon his hit count went from 250 to 28,000. The buildings were identified and soon he was getting emails from those who knew these kids, offering to see if one person could ask another if they if a third person had actually stolen the phone. Personal comments and attacks about the kids were being made. Remember, ironically Martijn works for for Amnesty International. Eventually a swap was made. The photos were taken down and Martijn had his phone back. He said he wouldn't do this again. It wasn't worth it and the phone was broken six months later.
In the June 12, 2008 post below I blogged how stolen technology could could virtually phone home. Well, the stories continue. And it almost makes you want to subscribe to a service so that if your tech toy is lost, it too can provide you with its location, complete with pictures.
Ashlee Hutchens was driving around Cincinnati and was lost. When she pulled over to reorient herself, a man stole her cellphone. Giving up all hope of recovery Ashlee and her mom went to buy a new Sidekick model to replace the stolen one. They were able to download the memory from the old phone, to the new phone. And Ashlee identified one of the new camera phone pictures as the man who'd stolen her phone. She commented he was even wearing the same shirt. The picture was on the local Crime Stoppers and the thief was identified and apprehended.
Martijn Van Es, who is a Web editor for Amnesty International in the Netherlands, lost his phone. Martijn subscribes to ShoZu which automatically uploads pictures taken from his phone to his Flickr account. Friends were asking why he was uploading photos of teenage boys. Well, Martijn wasn't, but the kids who had his phone were. Police said that even if they could identify these kids, they wouldn't know if the kids stole it, or found it. The former is a crime, the latter is not. So they were of no help.
Martijn decided some "crowd-sourcing" was in order and he began putting the photos on his blog in hopes they could be identified, and he could get his phone back. Soon his hit count went from 250 to 28,000. The buildings were identified and soon he was getting emails from those who knew these kids, offering to see if one person could ask another if they if a third person had actually stolen the phone. Personal comments and attacks about the kids were being made. Remember, ironically Martijn works for for Amnesty International. Eventually a swap was made. The photos were taken down and Martijn had his phone back. He said he wouldn't do this again. It wasn't worth it and the phone was broken six months later.
