Would-Be Identity Thief Finds Himself Stumped Without Printer Drivers

Ars Technica ^ | 10/23/07 | Jacqui Cheng

[Spktyr]

Unless someone comes in with the laptop, sends it in for service, or tries to re-register it, there’s nothing Apple *can* do.

Unlike Windows, Mac OS X doesn’t have a bunch of “phone home” stuff in it.

But if it DOES come into a place where Apple can look at the serial number, BAD things will happen to the thief. I got a “lost” PowerBook G4 back that way a few years ago.

[metmom]

I wanted to report the serial number and they told me that it wouldn’t do any good because there were so many stolen computers that it was not feasible to try to find it.

I thought about the angle of someone bringing it in the store for service and they said it wouldn’t work trying to find it that way.

I’ve heard stories about kids getting iPods back the same way.

I guess we could try again. Who do you contact?

[N3WBI3]

Like it even had to be said..

[dennisw]

Wow. Dateline San Dimas. The taking off point for Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Where Ted’s dad threatened to send him off to military school - in Alaska

[Spktyr]

Well, for starters, did you remember to register the thing with Apple when you bought it?

[steve-b]

Even if they put a picture of the user of a fake license on an otherwise legit license, it still won't link to the car they would be driving.

Who says the purchasers of the fake licenses would use them for driving? My understanding is that there's quite the black market in fake IDs for undeage drinkers.

[shorty_harris]

If you can get it to boot from the cd drive, you can just boot up a Linux live cd, and have access to the hard drive that way.

[metmom]

FReepmail.

[driftdiver]

If the hard drive is encrypted you have to break that level of encryption before you get to the OS.

[Spktyr]

99 out of 100 NT/2K machines do not have encrypted drives - mostly because of the reliability/recovery issues.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

The money is in cashing fake checks and using credit cards in other peoples names. If you show a driver’s license in the name on the card or check, you are that person as far as the store is concerned.

[driftdiver]

“99 out of 100 NT/2K machines do not have encrypted drives - mostly because of the reliability/recovery issues.”

These were PC’s and so its likely they would have XP which works well with most encryption products. XP is the standard desktop OS for most govt agencies.

Encrypting hard drives is a very effective security tool.

[Spktyr]

IIRC, most places like DMVs are still running Windows 2K, not XP.