[luau] Be on the lookout for Stolen laptops

[R. Scott Belford]

Ronald Willis wrote:
> Does anyone know if these unfortunate travelers had a beacon installed or if
> they
> have record of a mac address?

This reminded me of a great article I found on /. in 2002.  I hunted it down

http://macscripter.net/unscripted/unscripted.php?id=12_0_1_0_C

They didn't use the mac address, but they did find the stolen laptop.

I will always remember the very nice iBook one of the cashiers at Price 
Busters showed me and said that her cousin had bought it for only $200, 
without the power supply.  It was so hot I wouldn't even touch it.  I 
asked her to please report it.

What stands out is that the thief did not take the laptop to a shop, he 
sold it as is to a friend, who then gave it to his cousin, the cashier, 
so that she could as her company's "computer guy."  If these laptops 
take a similar route, I fear that it would be hard to recover them.

This makes me wonder, and perhaps some of you have an answer, what is 
the best way to get your laptop back if it is stolen?  I suppose that if 
one can boot off of a cd and re-install, all bets are off.  Does anyone 
out there have a strategy or a technology in place to prevent this?

--scott