Restickied until Dr. Tartan or Eric Korpela does her/his thing.

---

Account frozen...

Tomorrow I am speaking with an AP reporter assigned to Silicon Valley about this. I've been sick the last two days and have not gotten the laptop.

I am hoping to do a forensic analysis of the laptop and learn a bit about the people that had it. Might add some interesting bits to the story if I can see what they did with it.

-Admiral Mairth/James

Well tomorrow turned into nearly 2 weeks. I had the flu. All better now.

The associated press ran a story about this today. It hit the wires yesterday.

Here's a few links to places that picked it up:

http://www.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D8N9R2OO3&forumcomm_check_return

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/16699774.htm

http://www.examiner.com/a-565835~Computer_project_recovers_stolen_laptop__affirms_couple_s_love.html (version 1)

http://www.examiner.com/a-566516~Computer_project_recovers_stolen_laptop__affirms_couple_s_love.html (version 2)

---

Great story Admiral, glad you're feeling better too.

---

Calm Chaos Forum...Join Calm Chaos Now

I took a look at the machine after it was recovered to aid in any
possible forensics. It's really quite amazing that the user had
accessed just two websites (Bearshare and Myspace) and added the
amateur produced rap (really primitive sounding loops that sounded
like it had been created with a Commodore 64 sid chip with Roland
TR-808 drums for the requisite "rap deep bass kick" sound).

I'm guessing that the person did very little with it that a
typical user would. The lyrics definetely had 612 gangsta
references so I believe it to be produced by the perpetrator
or one of his associates. That a piece of software used for
the mixing of audio was added to the laptop is a further bit
of evidence that whoever had it was an amateur would-be rap
producer.

We found very little on the web in the way of the names of the
alleged artists so we're guessing amateur/below the radar stuff.

Anyway, it's interesting.

---

> Good Work All Around . . . ps - still waitin' to hear from Dr. Tartan

< Computer project recovers stolen laptop, affirms couple's love . . .
By RACHEL KONRAD, The Associated Press
Feb 14, 2007 7:45 PM (18 hrs ago)

Current rank: # 1,615 of 12,642 articles


Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

---

BOINC Wiki . . .

Science Status Page . . .

"Unless a computer-savvy thief uninstalls nearly every piece of software before connecting to the Internet, he said, SETI@home would track the machine - and the thief would likely never know it."

I'd just uninstall BOINC. But maybe I'm not computer-savvy.

---

me@rescam.org

Sorry for being the Fly in the Ointment

Any of the help in the recovery of the laptop, from overworked Seti Staff... Did anyone think to say something like Seti needs money to help them survive? Having been in a situation where tracking was involved know that it costs many "unfunded hours." It only shows the intregity of the Seti Team.

The Laptop is returned, I will leave it at that...

Pappa

Tomorrow I am speaking with an AP reporter assigned to Silicon Valley about this. I've been sick the last two days and have not gotten the laptop.

I am hoping to do a forensic analysis of the laptop and learn a bit about the people that had it. Might add some interesting bits to the story if I can see what they did with it.

-Admiral Mairth/James

Well tomorrow turned into nearly 2 weeks. I had the flu. All better now.

The associated press ran a story about this today. It hit the wires yesterday.

Here's a few links to places that picked it up:

http://www.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D8N9R2OO3&forumcomm_check_return

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/16699774.htm

http://www.examiner.com/a-565835~Computer_project_recovers_stolen_laptop__affirms_couple_s_love.html (version 1)

http://www.examiner.com/a-566516~Computer_project_recovers_stolen_laptop__affirms_couple_s_love.html (version 2)

---

Please consider a Donation to the Seti Project.

These are the Admiral's links in Clickable form.

Well Done Admiral!
.......................................................................
-Admiral Mairth/James

Well tomorrow turned into nearly 2 weeks. I had the flu. All better now.

The associated press ran a story about this today. It hit the wires yesterday.

Here's a few links to places that picked it up:

http://www.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D8N9R2OO3&forumcomm_check_return

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/16699774.htm

http://www.examiner.com/a-565835~Computer_project_recovers_stolen_laptop__affirms_couple_s_love.html (version 1)

http://www.examiner.com/a-566516~Computer_project_recovers_stolen_laptop__affirms_couple_s_love.html (version 2)

---

Congratulations Admiral/James!


The story has now been picked up by FoxNews, and several others.

Nerdy Couple Bond Over Stolen Laptop, Space Aliens

A google "news" search with the search terms "computer project recovers stolen laptop", shows that another 31 newspapers picked it up too - including the San Diego Union Tribune (Blame Misfit). :)

Google Search

---

including the San Diego Union Tribune (Blame Misfit). :)

2006 Pulitzer prize winner for National news reporting!

---

me@rescam.org

NBC NEWS

---

BOINC Wiki . . .

Science Status Page . . .

"SETI@home Laptop Stolen" . . .


> EIN NEWS . . . "a Service for Global Professionals"


West North Central U.S. Computers News

Alien-hunting software rats out laptop thief 16 Feb 2007 17:27 GMT


. . . Signals from aliens, an unskilled rapper and a Swedish-American computer geek converged in an unusual,

nerdy ode ... programmer for a county government agency in Minnesota, volunteers with the project and runs SETI(at)home . . .

note: SUbscription Notification - though there is a FREE Trial Available . . .


© 1995 - 2007 EIN, Inc.
© 1996-2007 Internet Product Development Group Inc. All rights reserved



< Recovered Stolen Laptop Affirms MN Couple's Love

Stolen Laptop Recovered Thanks To SETI@Home

Some Renaissance Festival geek from Minnesota (that apparently likes 'em young) tracked his wife's stolen laptop using the SETI@Home


ip database, carefully watching for the client he had configured on her laptop to 'phone home'.


Sure enough, it did, and the good ole' Minneapolis boys in blue tracked the laptop and the person who pilfered it down . . .

© Digg Inc. 2007



< see more here . . .

from GOOGLE: a search for - "SETI@home Laptop Stolen"

---

BOINC Wiki . . .

Science Status Page . . .

Aliens, Geeks, And A Stolen Laptop by David Utter Staff Writer 2007-02-15



® SecurityProNews publication - 1998-2007 All Rights Reserved

Do not trifle in the affairs of geeks, let alone pilfer their wives' laptops, for they are subtle and quick to track you down.

SETI@Home may not have discovered alien life yet. But it did help one persistent guy find something else - his wife's laptop, which had been

stolen on New Year's Day.


Rather than just dropping a police report into the ether to drift along with thousands of other reports of stolen electronics and waiting for

the insurance check to arrive, James Melin took action. A WCCO.com report said he started keeping an eye on the SETI@home site to see if the

laptop would phone home.


It did, three times, and Melin collected the IP addresses recorded when the laptop accessed SETI@Home's servers. With that information in hand,

Melin took it to the police, who in turn took it to court for subpoena to find the identity behind those IP addresses.


They did, turning up a thief who either had really bad taste in rap or was even worse at rapping himself. Along with his wife's screenplays

and novels, they found "20 tracks of rap music with unintelligible lyrics."


A savvier thief would have probably wiped the hard drive, so Melin was fortunate that the person just plugged the laptop into the Internet

and started using it. The incident is just one of many laptop thefts that take place all the time.


It makes us wonder why more effective laptop recovery software isn't being more widely used. SETI@Home worked here, but it is trivial to

uninstall. There are solutions that are much tougher to defeat. Perhaps people and companies are a little privacy-paranoid about having a

third-party being able to track their machines whenever they connect to the Internet.

® SecurityProNews publication - 1998-2007 All Rights Reserved

---

BOINC Wiki . . .

Science Status Page . . .

UPDATE Note:

> have sent "Aliens, Geeks, And A Stolen Laptop by David Utter Staff Writer 2007-02-15" Message (below) to Dr. Seth Shostak @ the SETI Institute - to be forwarded to Dr. Jill Tartan (so as to 'clarify' the actual Media Coverage re: the 'Stolen Laptop' Matter and the Possiblity of more Publicity when Dr. Tartan lectures next Month in Canada). This Entire Matter - from the Publicity Viewpoint - can only enhance the Reputation and possibility of greater Funding for SETI / BOINC Projects and as well for the SETI Institute . . .

see: Message 518771 - Posted 17 Feb 2007 16:00:00 UTC

Thank You

---

BOINC Wiki . . .

Science Status Page . . .

Well, I never really expected fame of any kind from this, but that story ranged far and wide. I've gotten a few calls from people I've not seen in 10 years or more saying 'Was that you?'.

I am amazed, and humbled again, by all of you, and by everyone's reaction to this and I am happy beyond words that this all worked out. Thank you all for the help you gave me to actually get this information early on.

I hope there is a lot of positive momentum about this.

And A Thank you to Rachel Konrad, the AP writer who did the piece and liked my uncle's Lutefisk recipe.

-Admiral Marith.

I am going to be Interviewed on national Sattelite radio (Sirius network)tomorrow, at about 1:35-1:40 central time. It will be on Sirius channel 159.

A program called Across the Nation - A blurb about it.

Across the Nation, a live talk program which broadcasts each weekday from 1pm-4pm Eastern time, is part of the Catholic Channel on Sirius Satellite Radio. Hosted by attorney and columnist Bob Dunning, Across the Nation presents the issues and news makers of the day to inform and entertain believers and non-believers alike.

So anyway I am going to plug the Seti project as much as I can. As well as discuss the technical details of how it works. I'm also going to recommend people with portable equipment get a service like lojack

---

I am going to be Interviewed on national Sattelite radio (Sirius network)tomorrow, at about 1:35-1:40 central time. It will be on Sirius channel 159.

A program called Across the Nation - A blurb about it.

Across the Nation, a live talk program which broadcasts each weekday from 1pm-4pm Eastern time, is part of the Catholic Channel on Sirius Satellite Radio. Hosted by attorney and columnist Bob Dunning, Across the Nation presents the issues and news makers of the day to inform and entertain believers and non-believers alike.

So anyway I am going to plug the Seti project as much as I can. As well as discuss the technical details of how it works. I'm also going to recommend people with portable equipment get a service like lojack

That's Great Admiral . . . attempt to get a Recording of this too

. . . a Copy of the Program w/ *Permissions* (for Use @ Berkeley, SETI etc . . .)

CONGRATULATIONS Sir . . .

I am going to be Interviewed on national Sattelite radio (Sirius network)tomorrow, at about 1:35-1:40 central time. It will be on Sirius channel 159.

A program called Across the Nation - A blurb about it.

Across the Nation, a live talk program which broadcasts each weekday from 1pm-4pm Eastern time, is part of the Catholic Channel on Sirius Satellite Radio. Hosted by attorney and columnist Bob Dunning, Across the Nation presents the issues and news makers of the day to inform and entertain believers and non-believers alike.

So anyway I am going to plug the Seti project as much as I can. As well as discuss the technical details of how it works. I'm also going to recommend people with portable equipment get a service like lojack

That's Great Admiral . . . attempt to get a Recording of this too

. . . a Copy of the Program w/ *Permissions* (for Use @ Berkeley, SETI etc . . .)

CONGRATULATIONS Sir . . .

I did look into it. Sirius, itself does not make recordings of it's programming available, sadly. If anyone here DOES have a Sirius Sattelite Radio and can actual record the show around 1:30 central time, I know I'd* appreciate it.

---

@ the Admiral . . . POSTED @ SETI Cafe . . . . (also on the Science Pages)

. . . Does Anybody have a Sirius Satellite Radio

hopefully somebody will do this for Berkeley . . . Thank You

I am going to be Interviewed on national Sattelite radio (Sirius network)tomorrow, at about 1:35-1:40 central time. It will be on Sirius channel 159.

A program called Across the Nation - A blurb about it.

Across the Nation, a live talk program which broadcasts each weekday from 1pm-4pm Eastern time, is part of the Catholic Channel on Sirius Satellite Radio. Hosted by attorney and columnist Bob Dunning, Across the Nation presents the issues and news makers of the day to inform and entertain believers and non-believers alike.

So anyway I am going to plug the Seti project as much as I can. As well as discuss the technical details of how it works. I'm also going to recommend people with portable equipment get a service like lojack

That's Great Admiral . . . attempt to get a Recording of this too

. . . a Copy of the Program w/ *Permissions* (for Use @ Berkeley, SETI etc . . .)

CONGRATULATIONS Sir . . .

I did look into it. Sirius, itself does not make recordings of it's programming available, sadly. If anyone here DOES have a Sirius Sattelite Radio and can actual record the show around 1:30 central time, I know I'd* appreciate it.

Missing Laptop Found in ET Hunt

Hunt for Aliens at Least Lands Laptop By RACHEL KONRAD AP Technology Writer


[quote]SAN FRANCISCO Feb 21, 2007 (AP)— The Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California,

Berkeley, has signed up more than 1 million volunteers worldwide in a search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

They've found no aliens yet, but they have at least turned up one missing laptop. more



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