back to article iPhone thieves collared by Jobsian GPS

A trio of blundering brigands have been busted after an iPhone they had stolen betrayed their whereabouts. This tale of technology overcoming uninformed criminality comes to us from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which reported Monday that an unnamed victim was robbed of his iPhone and wallet early Sunday morning. Apparently, …

COMMENTS

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  1. R.E.H.

    Just sayin'

    In Pittsburgh, PPG==Pittsburgh Plate Glass, not Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Acronym fail.

  2. Mike S

    Eat n' Smart?

    I don't think those guys would have anything to do with something labeled "Smart".

  3. Nexox Enigma

    Faraday Cage Envelope!

    Never know when you'll need one next!

  4. Sly
    Coat

    more PPG acronyms

    Phased Plasma Gun (Babylon 5)

    Progress in Physical Geography

    PowerPuff Girls

    Polyglot Parser Generator

    Pfitzner Performance Gearbox

    Personnel Policy Guidance

    Privacy Policy Generator

    Purchase Planners Group

    ...

    mine's the one with the ROFLCOPTER on the back

  5. Gannon (J.) Dick
    Jobs Horns

    Sorry ...

    ... I'm a little slow today. Does this mean that if I want the Police to arrest Steve Jobs, I should steal his iPhone ?

    If he's not careful I'll steal it and make an iBrick out of it. You are in soooooo much trouble, buster. Just wait until Ma Bell gets home!

  6. Tony Paulazzo

    Hey

    Why don't all phones have this? It would destroy the stolen phone market in one generation, oh but of course, the phone insurers would lose an easy tenner a month (or however much it is), scam.

    Or at least give us the option of remote bricking our phones so the little yobs lose out on their £20 sell on fee.

  7. Moss Icely Spaceport
    Thumb Up

    All expensive kit should have this feature

    - Cars

    - Tvs

    - Computers

    - Cameras

    - DVD equip, etc

    Mr Plod could then catch these tea-leaves rather than snoop on innocent citizens....

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    @Moss Icely Spaceport

    Are you kidding? they would USE it to snoop on innocent people if there were any.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Sorry & "All expensive kit"

    @Sorry:

    You should jailbreak his phone and then let it be found. Would be very funny the next time there's a firmware update :-)

    @All expensive kit should have this feature.

    Ab-so-lu-te-ly no way. You're already far too trackable as it is, you would not want to have to worry about this kit being used against you. The only acceptable trackers are those than remain 100% under your control, and given that the iPhoney (as well as Google Latitude) are in principle US you can forget about that. Given the recent legal abuse in Germany (buying stolen data from Liechtenstein despite that being illegal under EU law) I guess it's now only going to take some vague allegation of tax fraud to get the phone in your shiny Mercedes tapped too. Oh, and your ordinary, non-iPhone UK phone does just the same - and even a council has rights to demand the location records (council tax evasion is apparently a valid argument).

    If they want me they might as well work for it - that ensures they first have to decide if I'm worth the expense (I'm not, incidentally, but I get pissed off about those that should be under the most strict legal control of all just do as they please).

    Anon because I only trust El Reg..

  10. Sam Machin
    Flame

    Remote Detonation

    I'd much rather have a feature that allows me to turn the iPhone into an exploding fireball remotely, at least that way there'd be some Justice.

    New iPhone = £400

    Theaving b***ard scarred for life = Priceless

  11. Paul Murphy 1

    What might work

    Everything that connects to your WiFi hub - have it bleat to you and/or the police when it loses contact for more than 10 minutes,

    Everything else - make sure you have good doors and windows, and keep them closed and locked.

    ttfn

  12. Nicholas Wright
    FAIL

    Great software, but...

    $99 a year?! £40 odd quid a year to protect against an idiot stealing your phone?

    Would be better off getting another mobile phone contract, with an additional iPhone!

  13. Nic 3
    Thumb Up

    Tin foil hats

    I see the tin foil hat brigade are on full alert this morning. Good effort brave Internet Warriors. Keeping the world safe.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re: All expensive kit should have this feature

    Most of mine does. All of my computers fetch a webpage from a site I control when they are powered on. From this I can get the IP address and the police can then track the location.

    Wherever possible I buy hardware with embedded linux (switches, print servers etc) so that I can modify the firmware to do the same.

    Obviously this depends on the equipment being able to access the internet once its been stolen, but its better than nothing.

  15. LuMan
    Thumb Up

    Alternative Solution

    Get the iPhone to call about 10 of your mates and a Transit Van hire company......

  16. Tom 7

    @Sam Machin

    Excellent idea - next time you really annoy me I'll put my iPhone in your pocket and call the justice line!

  17. Matt Bryant Silver badge
    Boffin

    RE: @Sorry & "All expensive kit"

    In theory, all GSM mobiles are trackable. Each mobile has a unique ID called the IMEI - when you connect to the service, the mobile tower knows which phone it is talking to not just by the SIM's IMSI number but also the phone's IMEI number. Switch SIMs and the carrier still knows which handset is being used. If you are in an urban carrier cell then you are likely to be within range of more than one mast, so the phone companies can triangulate your position. If you check inside your mobe you'll usually find an IMEI number under the battery (sorry, iBoner's, that's under the removeable and replaceable battery that other phone users enjoy). Otherwise call your carrier and ask for the IMEI - if the phone gets stolen they can track or block it by the IMEI number. The carriers can pass this info to the Police to help them track down mobile thieves, which is why the pro crims usually remove the battery immediately and send the phone abroad, whilst the i-want-to-go-to-jail kiddies will try and flog it down the pub.

  18. TeeCee Gold badge
    Coat

    Re: Re: All expensive kit should have this feature

    Let me guess. You wear one of those hats as depicted on the S.M.O.F. card in the Illuminati game, don't you?

  19. Monty Burns

    @Expensive Kit should do this

    As mentioned by AC, most can/does. You can also have trackers fitted to motorbikes/cars for years. Not to mentioned much of the "other" smart phones have been able to do this already - for free normaly!

    Bless em, gota love ignorant crims eh? :-)

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    RE:All expensive kit should have this feature

    -Cars

    http://www.tracker.co.uk/TRACKER/

    IIRC a lifetime subscription was only about £400 which apart from paying for itself in reduced insurance premiums is rather a small percentage of the overall cost of the car.

  21. Steve Evans
    Flame

    They should count themsleves lucky...

    The Jobsian device's remote detonation feature hadn't been activated!

  22. The First Dave
    Thumb Up

    Untitled

    See - more proof that Apple is more secure than Windoze!

  23. Yorkshirepudding
    Coat

    iRobbed

    there's an app for that

    mines the one with the 5800 in

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    PPG

    I though PPG referred to members of the infamous low swinging 'Penis Pump Gang'.

    Apparently PPG head keeps a watchful eye over all his members

  25. Gannon (J.) Dick
    WTF?

    Does this Tin Foil Hat make me look fat ?

    What's up with that Eat'nPark ?

    It sounds like the same unfortunate order which causes multi-tasking to be blamed for people too stupid to walk and chew gum.

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