Gadget Theft !

Something I got by mail...

They're expensive, small and easy to steal. Media devices such as iPods, PSP, USB flash drives, digital cameras and others are hot items for thieves. Once stolen, chances are very slim that they will be recovered.

What if your device could phone home?

Well now it can. With a patent-pending GadgetTrak system, you simply register your device and install the agent files(autorunning applications) on your device. If your device is missing or stolen, you log into your account and flag the device as lost or stolen. The next time the device is accessed it will attempt to contact the company and provide data regarding the system it is plugged into including:

• Public IP Address
• Location (Country, City, State & Zip)*
• Username

• Computer Name
• Host name of ISP
• Internal network IP address

Click to expand...

This information won't necessarily be enough to hunt down your iPod, but it's worth a try (people sometimes use surprisingly identifying usernames).

GadgetTrak currently only works on Windows computers and requires the thief to fall an autorun trick that asks users to install a USB driver whenever the USB device is plugged in. Technically, then, GadgetTrak can be considered spyware - though it's a spyware designed to actually work for you, in this case.

Currently the entire GadgetTheft service is free to use, but a premium service with more features is supposedly on the way. While there's absolutely no way to guarantee that you'll ever see your gadget again (a savvy thief would almost certainly format the drive first thing), GadgetTrak provides an interesting line of defense that is definitely a step up from nothing. GadgetTrak works on any USB device plugged into a Windows computer.

Talk about innovation

GadgetTheft