The Glade 4.0

This is similar to the story of the hacker that tracked down his stolen laptop, but this one is less Hacker-y.

Short, short version - Guy has laptop stolen, reports to police. Guy activates software on his Macbook called "Hidden" which activates his webcam and takes screenshots. Presents additional information to the police who tell him they are too busy to work on this for him. Guy sets up a blog called This guy has my Macbook. Multiple FB likes and tweets later, Good Morning America picks up the story. Police, under media scrutiny now pick up the trail and promptly nab the person in possession of the stolen property.

Cool story.



CNN Article about the arrest

Website for the Hidden application

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This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

That's awesome. Doesn't a light turn on near the webcam when it's on? If so the guy is a moron. (guy = criminal)

Most petty criminals are morons by default. That is why they are criminals to begin with. Duh.

That actually was a pretty cool story, Foams. Had to have been a good feeling knowing that he wasn't helpless and he was able to recover his stolen property with a little forethought and ingenuity when the police told him it was hopeless.

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

I am a little bothered, though by the fact that the police seemed to not be interested in helping until the media put the pressure on him.

Being a victim of identity theft and having a similar experience with the police makes me feel this way. Once the cops had the information in hand, it took them not a day or two to retrieve the stolen laptop and arrest the guy in possession of the stolen goods.

This is a problem.

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This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

So while I'm sure there is some room for efficiency at any police station (just as there is at any company), you basically have 2 options here. Deal with the overall level of priority that any police station will be able to give to petty theft issues like this, or spend a **** load more money on police.

Im glad he got his laptop back. When the decective turned him down, I
am wondering why he didn't go to chief or the town council.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

Option 3: Make yourself a badass superhero costume and go rescue your **** from some evildoers!

Probably because both would have said that the detective was following protocols laid down for him by the chief on behalf of the town council.

This is not at all rare, at least in big cities. I spent three days trying to get a police report in Los Angeles, for a work machine that was stolen out of the back of someone's car. LAPD (city) didn't have jurisdiction, LA Sheriff (county) wouldn't send anyone out to bother with it ... I ended up driving out to **** LA County to file a report, at which point the tracking company could forward the info to the LASD for them to go get the thing. And even at that, I don't think they ever did, at least not that I heard.

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This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge