“Frustrated iPod owners are angry, their music taken from them by thieves [that] Dateline caught on hidden camera,” Chris Hansen reports for NBC News.
“Dateline investigates if it’s possible, using some of the same high-tech capabilities that make the iPod the phenomenon it is, to track down people who take iPods that don’t belong to them,” Hansen reports.
“The iPod — it’s everywhere. Originally billed as ‘a thousand songs in your pocket,’ it can now hold up to 20,000 songs, 100 hours of video, 25,000 photos–and with a staggering 110 million sold, the device has become an international icon and in an indispensable part of life,” Hansen reports. “But… if you’ve got to have it, so do thieves.”
“We bought dozens of iPods. These were iPods that we’d use as bait to be stolen — or deliberately lost,” Hansen reports “We hired a software company, Blackfin Tech, to help us. Jefferson Jewell runs Blackfin. His solution? To simply demonstrate whether an iPod has the capability of being tracked, we’d create our own database — just like Apple has.”
“We’d try to get basic information from whoever plugged it in, in this case from people the iPods didn’t belong to,” Hansen reports. How would we get the information? Instead of putting used iPods out as bait, we’d use new ones that were brand new in the box. To a thief, they’d be exactly like the real thing.”
“Except for this: with a new iPod, the first thing you normally do is download Apple iTunes software, which allows you to buy and download music as well as provide basic information about the user to Apple,” Hansen reports.
“To get our bait iPods to work, whoever takes them will have to install a disc. What they won’t know is that when they click ‘I Agree’ on a licensing agreement that appears on-screen, they’ll be consenting to provide some of the same kind of information they provide Apple to Dateline,” Hansen reports.
Find out what happened in the full text article here or watch the video report here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David” for the heads up.]
Should Apple track down missing iPods for free? Can they even do so for manpower and/or legal reasons? Perhaps, as Newsweek’s Steve Levy suggests in the full piece, Apple could offer such tracking as part of a paid service like AppleCare. In any case, it seems that Apple’s already working on a solution.
In the full article, Hansen also reports that “although Apple declined requests for interviews and comment regarding this report, the company — which consistently ranks at or near the top in customer satisfaction surveys in the tech world — might well turn out to be the hero in our story after all.”
“Why? Just recently came word from the U.S. Patent Office that Apple has applied for a new patent. In its application, Apple confirms that there is a ‘serious problem’ with iPod theft and that iPod owners have been seriously injured or even murdered for their iPods. And the company has proposed an ingenious solution to the problem: essentially, you can’t recharge the iPod or the new iPhone if you can’t prove the device is yours when you hook it up to iTunes,” Hansen reports.
Pah!
You don’t need all this electronic tracking, all you need is one of these:
http://hideapod.com/
and your iPod will NEVER get stolen!
I think people should just be more careful and take better care of their iPods. When you buy a product, it becomes *your* responsibility, in that it is *your* product.
And yes, the guy that started the stolen iPod website not only has too much time on his hands, but he’s also a real shithead. He seems to think there is a certain entitlement owed him by Apple. I hope someone steals his car, and maybe his girlfriend.
I posted the following to an article at Slashdot last Friday, and somewhere else about a year ago:
To catch an iPod or iPhone thief (and thereby prevent many thefts, if this is made well known), I think Apple should do this: Modify iTunes so that it sends to Apple the s/n of any connected iPod or iPhone. If stolen, the victim sends Apple a copy of the police report. Apple then puts that s/n on its watch list, and the next time the stolen iWhatever announces itself, Apple sends the IP# of the machine it is connected to to the police dept where the report was made. It may cost Apple an employee or two to handle this but the PR it would generate I think would be worth it. It may even recover the iPod that was snatched from the resident teen here.
Apple should get itunes to track serial numbers the people inform feds to get the person himself and if the ipod was damaged they pay for it.Nice and clear.
I don’t think it is Apple’s responsibility… especially not for free… to serve as our iPod nanny. We know what we spent on the device and therefore we have to treat it with the respect that is deserves. These are the hottest gadgets out there, walking away from one is like leaving cash setting out for the taking. Americans need to stop thinking everyone else is supposed to take care of them. Wake up and be responsible!
Solution is easy:
every time you plug-in iPod, serial and ip is senyt to Apple, of course you have to agree to that when buying/installing, this would make tracking easy, period.
And I don’t have anything against sending my info to Apple, after all it;s all for my own good. Some people will protest claiming their privacy is compromised, but who are they, do they really think someone is out to get them?
Some people are more careful with their stuff, why should they subsidize people who aren’t as careful? Especially as rich people tend to be less careful with playthings so poor people will subsidize them.
If a stolen item is more likely to be returned people will take less care of them and more will be stolen. People make risk assessments all the time, it’s human nature and there is no changing it.
It’s fascinating how people are willing to give up their freedom so easily in ‘the land of the free’, all so they can take less care of an at best extremely peripheral part of life. It’s like socialism in a different guise, collective responsibility replacing individual responsibility, the company will look out for me.
This government is bad/business is good mentality is wrong but getting righter all the time as government and business converge. The political system in western ‘democracies’ is rapidly approaching corporatism – look it up.
A bit off topic but that was some of the worst writing I’ve ever seen in a “news” segment. What are they teaching people in school now? Self-esteem?
No way would I allow my personal informatin to be transmitted all the time to someone. Apple would never do it because Apple is not Sony and is not Microsoft.
As for people who say its OK to take Lost iPods, sorry that isn’t so. if it isn’t yours, don’t take it. BTW, that’s the same as money. I thought the kids were a good example of some is what is wrong in the world, “someone took mine so I am going to take someone else.” Reminds me of a 5 year old – “he hit me first.”
The really scary part is in 20 to 30 years these kids could be running our companies – Enron anyone?
No way would I allow my personal informatin to be transmitted all the time to someone. Apple would never do it because Apple is not Sony and is not Microsoft.
As for people who say its OK to take Lost iPods, sorry that isn’t so. if it isn’t yours, don’t take it. BTW, that’s the same as money. I thought the kids were a good example of some is what is wrong in the world, “someone took mine so I am going to take someone else.” Reminds me of a 5 year old – “he hit me first.”
The really scary part is in 20 to 30 years these kids could be running our companies – Enron anyone?
No way would I allow my personal informatin to be transmitted all the time to someone. Apple would never do it because Apple is not Sony and is not Microsoft.
As for people who say its OK to take Lost iPods, sorry that isn’t so. if it isn’t yours, don’t take it. BTW, that’s the same as money. I thought the kids were a good example of some is what is wrong in the world, “someone took mine so I am going to take someone else.” Reminds me of a 5 year old – “he hit me first.”
The really scary part is in 20 to 30 years these kids could be running our companies – Enron anyone?
No way would I allow my personal informatin to be transmitted all the time to someone. Apple would never do it because Apple is not Sony and is not Microsoft.
As for people who say its OK to take Lost iPods, sorry that isn’t so. if it isn’t yours, don’t take it. BTW, that’s the same as money. I thought the kids were a good example of some is what is wrong in the world, “someone took mine so I am going to take someone else.” Reminds me of a 5 year old – “he hit me first.”
The really scary part is in 20 to 30 years these kids could be running our companies – Enron anyone?
Serial number is easy.
When I buy an iPod, I register it with Apple. Apple maintains a list, associated with my .Mac account, of all the serial numbers of iPods I’ve bought. I don’t have to keep track of anything!
now I only wish I could find a ‘lost’ iPod on some bench…it would never be found…it’s a cruel world.
Who cars if some idiot lost their ipod. I lost my camera .. I demand Sony do something about it! people are so f’ing dumb.
“Better than none, if it were common knowledge that Apple was tracking iPods, that would severely curtail the market for stolen ones.”
no, in a week, there would be a work around and thieves/hackers would be right back where they started….
MW: “been” there done that.
I watched the show last night and was thinking about the iPod stolen from my grandson all the while. Apple has the information already. That information ought to be available to the registered owner, or for the owner’s use in recovering a stolen device, if only via a subpoena. Getting your tunes to your iPod is difficult without iTunes, beyond the skills of most casual thieves.
a) knowing they are traceable would seriously reduce the theft
b) knowing of the tracking would somewhat reduce the use of iTunes
An acceptable trade-off, in my view. Until someone comes out with a “uTunes” hack that does most of what iTunes does – without the external linking.
DLMeyer – the Voice of G.L.Horton’s Stage Page Pod Cast – now discussing the ICWP Retreat
If you actually watched the show last night, you would have seen that at one of the NYC stores, an Apple Genius did look up the registration info on an iPod and it was returned to the rightful owner.
Is it Apple’s responsibility? Not really. They aren’t law enforcement after all. But if they start requiring activation of iPods (like what they’re already doing now with iPhones) it would greatly reduce the amount of thefts.
If an iPhone is stolen it can be deactivated, and it becomes nothing more than a $500 brick, so there is no real point in stealing one. Apple will likely do something similar with the iPod soon based on the patent they’ve applied for.
Hmmmm, some good points and some weird ones here.
But remember, its a lot harder than it looks. I sell my iPod and then claim its stolen. Who is right? I do think that there is something that Apple or an outside agency can do, BUT ONLY if the original owner agrees in writing. PERIOD.
As mentioned above, its a slippery slope when a company starts prying into your personal business. Who you give, buy for, etc a piece of equipment is YOUR business not someone who wants to pry.
And with datelines thing, if I found a twenty dollar bill on the bench, its mine. Sorry but unless you have the serial number on the bill, you cannot prove its yours. And for lost and found, how do I know that they are honest. They get the handbag, lose the iPod, and return the other contents. I assume that there is no other identifing info in the bag so that people who find the left bags could return them. — Actually that would be an interesting test. Leave your info in the bag, leave it and see who returns the iPod. Interesting thought.
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My MacBook was stolen. I informed Apple of the theft and was given an incident number which then could be used by any insurance company to verify that the theft had been reported. It also could be used by any police department to subpoena Apple’s records to see if their had been any later registration of the machine.
Dateline’s piece could almost be seen as a hit piece, really.
The scenario they set up–theft of boxed iPods where the victim has a record of the serial number–can’t represent more than a tenth of a percentage of iPod thefts. Most often the iPod stolen is an iPod someone uses and has left out in the open, so all the registration crap Dateline did goes out the window. What Dateline would like Apple to do is surruptitiously register iPods; imagine the privacy objections that would cause.
Also, the piece itself shows why Apple should never, never, never give out registration info except when subpoenaed by a law enforcement agency–imagine if any schmuck could call Apple and get name and address info for who has “their” iPod.
Such as someone going over and beating the crap out of whoever they think stole their iPod.
Or someone getting shot when trying to confront the person they think stole their iPod.
Or someone who received an iPod as a gift or bought an iPod on ebay or craigslist finding themselves with a group of guys with baseball bats at their front door.
That kinda stuff.
Even the “I found this iPod” stuff was complete crap. Imagine if Joe Stalker saw a girl he liked at the gym, took her iPod, and then ran to the Apple store saying, “I found this lost iPod. Can I have the name and address of the person it belongs to so I can return it? I’d really like to return the iPod at 3 a.m. by crawling in this girl’s back window. I swear all I want to do is return the iPod.”
Why is it the maunfacturer’s responsibilty to help you keep track of your shit? Lost is lost, through your own carelessness. If you don’t care enough to look after it why should the manufacturer?
Stolen from a vehicle? Same deal. Don’t leave it out where it can be seen.
Stolen from you physically? Notify police if you feel the need and can provide info on the thief. Count yourself lucky if all they do is take the iPod.
Do we ask wallet makers to find our wallets? No matter how we lose them?
Just because the possibilty exists of tracking the item does not mean it should be required of the manufacturer.
Best suggestion in this forum has been offering tracking of all products thru AppleCare. Optional coverage, for a fee, just like insurance.
Apple already has policies in place for what to do when an iPod is reported as stolen. When you buy an iPod from an Apple store, they register it for you on the spot. Your name is in their system, associated with your iPod’s serial number.
If your iPod gets stolen, call Apple technical support immediately and report it. They will flag it as stolen in their system. In the future, if anybody calls in to technical support with that serial number, that technician’s next call is to Apple security.
It’s a long shot, but it’s further than they really have to go on behalf of a stolen iPod. Obviously, the best measure is to use your brain to prevent it getting stolen in the first place. Don’t leave it in your car, and avoid using in places where you’re likely to get mugged for it.
Gotta love the standard sense of entitlement held by the people of this country. “I was a dumbass and left my iPod on the top of the car, and somebody stole it and ZOMG! APPLE MUST RECOVER IT FOR ME OR THEY ARE A HORRIBLE, EVIL COMPANY!”
Hell, let’s just embed RFID chips in everything, including Randian’s friend’s wife’s new ring, so that they cease functioning (bling off?) if not within 2 meters of the owner, who has an implanted RFID transceiver that talks to the item. That’ll fix it!
I saw a blip of this last night, and my thought was, “Geez, Dateline’s scraping the barrell now.” Total non-news just glomming on the iPod phenomenon, and this whole “To Catch an X” thing is starting to sound like something Geraldo Rivera would do. Whatever.
And no MDN readers are wonderinging why MS-NBC, that’s MICROSOFT-NBC if you didn’t catch that, decided to bash Apple?
What about all the other dozen’s of MP3 players, or the wedding ring noted above, or the car, anyone’s sister’s virginity?
Sheesh, people, get a clue.