Can SETI help me find a stolen laptop?

Author	Message
Jason L. Seward Send message Joined: 14 Jun 99 Posts: 2 Credit: 410,869 RAC: 0	Message 145002 - Posted: 30 Jul 2005, 21:24:27 UTC About three months ago a laptop was stolen from my house. At the time that it was stolen, it was happily processing packets. Now, according to SETI records it hasn't returned a result since April. So, I know this is long shot, but does anyone know if there is a way I might determine it's physical location, should it ever return a result? Thanks, Jason L. Seward ID: 145002 ·

eberndl Send message Joined: 12 Oct 01 Posts: 539 Credit: 619,111 RAC: 3	Message 145004 - Posted: 30 Jul 2005, 21:29:01 UTC I assume it was processing SETI/BOINC, so you should be able to get the IP of last connect for the computer. From that you can (I believe) trace back to a specific ISP. If you give that information to the police they SHOULD be able to get a warrent for the ISP to disclose which customer has/had that ISP and from that maybe get the computer back. Anyone want to confirm? ID: 145004 ·

barbarossa Send message Joined: 4 Sep 99 Posts: 1294 Credit: 6,629,998 RAC: 3	Message 145009 - Posted: 30 Jul 2005, 21:37:37 UTC - in response to Message 145004. I assume it was processing SETI/BOINC, so you should be able to get the IP of last connect for the computer. From that you can (I believe) trace back to a specific ISP. If you give that information to the police they SHOULD be able to get a warrent for the ISP to disclose which customer has/had that ISP and from that maybe get the computer back. Anyone want to confirm? Perfect, eberndl. That's exactly what I'd do as well. I doubt, however, that my town police officer would understand a single word :-))= . Better go to the central... :-)= Greybeard All about BOINC: BOINC-Wiki (by Paul D. Buck) ID: 145009 ·

Jord Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 9 Jun 99 Posts: 15184 Credit: 4,362,181 RAC: 3	Message 145010 - Posted: 30 Jul 2005, 21:38:38 UTC I wouldn't keep my hopes up: Usually what happens is that the thieves or the people who buy it from them, will erase the whole harddrive and sell it on as something second hand, for others to put software on and such. ID: 145010 ·

Heffed Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 19 Mar 02 Posts: 1856 Credit: 40,736 RAC: 0	Message 145024 - Posted: 30 Jul 2005, 22:02:53 UTC There was a similar post in the wish list forum earlier this month. Computer stolen, checked seti and its running at the thiefs house! Even with the information that the computer was functioning and it should be possible to determine the IP, local police wouldn't do anything. (whether from ignorance or laziness) ID: 145024 ·

Jason L. Seward Send message Joined: 14 Jun 99 Posts: 2 Credit: 410,869 RAC: 0	Message 145072 - Posted: 30 Jul 2005, 22:57:33 UTC Thanks for the interest. I had another idea: If I can get Dell to cough up the MAC address of the NIC that's in that laptop, does anyone know how I might go about scanning that out? I know you can scan for a specific MAC address across a local intranet, I wonder if it might be possible across the internet. Thanks, Jason L. Seward ID: 145072 ·

Kajunfisher Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 29 Mar 05 Posts: 1407 Credit: 126,476 RAC: 0	Message 145361 - Posted: 31 Jul 2005, 16:54:18 UTC Here is a little bit more information for you. It's from earlier this year. Tracking PC's anywhere on the Net I'm sure there's newer information out there... ;-) Good luck to you! No matter where you go, there you are... ID: 145361 ·

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