CHIPNIT

This is a little post from GIZMODO:

A White Plains, NY woman who was the victim of burglary, including her MacBook, used the Back To My Mac screen sharing feature to turn on her webcam and capture images of the unwitting culprits using the computer. As a result, police were able to arrest the thieves and recover most of the stolen goods, which included two laptops, two flat-screen televisions, two iPods, gaming consoles, DVDs and computer games.

This plan first launched into action when a co-worker of the nameless woman at the Apple Store noticed her computer online and notified the woman. She was then able to log into her computer and the rest is history. So the moral of the story is this: If you steal a MacBook, please be sure to cover the iSight with some tape. Otherwise, you could also be charged with a second degree felony.

I love it. I don’t use the back to my mac feature because I don’t want to par for the limited .mac services as a whole, but this is a great example of how .mac paid off in an unintended way. In fact, this got me thinking. Is there any sort of application out there that is actually meant to be used in this way. Some security program that can be launched remotely that, say, does a remote encryption of the drive, locks down the computer, and heck, even turns on the webcam and or microphone. That way you automatically, and remotely, secure your personal information, render the computer useless, and may be able to even hear or see where your computer is and who has it. In fact, why doesn’t every pricey electronic device we buy these days at least have some sort of tracking system in case it is stolen? Any thoughts or comments, please leave them below and or email me at b.pope3@gmail.com