It was a bad weekend for Matthew Holloway, best-known as a co-founder of anti-S92 lobby group The Creative Freedom Foundation.The copyright campaigner lost $5000 worth of IT gear, including two laptops, in a burglary.They cut the Holloways TelstraClear ca
It was a bad weekend for Matthew Holloway, best-known as a co-founder of anti-S92 lobby group The Creative Freedom Foundation.
The copyright campaigner lost $5000 worth of IT gear, including two laptops, in a burglary.
They cut the Holloways TelstraClear cable, too. Nice guys.
But the thieves may have a trickier time making a clean getaway than they bargained.
For Mr Holloway had installed tracking software from PreyProject.com on the notebooks - which he has now enabled.
Prey’s software uses GPS to establish its location - or, if there’s no GPS, it attempts to access the nearest wi-fi or other internet connection - then reports its whereabouts to its owner.
“Not a peep out of the two laptops yet,” Mr Holloway emailed NBR yesterday. “I'm hoping that when the laptops are on-sold in a couple of days someone turns them on and uses the honey-pot guest account carefully prepared for this scenario so I can catch a glimpse of their ugly mugs.” (Prey’s software can be set to capture stills if your laptop has a web cam.)
Mr Holloway said he would tell the police rather than mounting his own rescue operation.
“Although that doesn't mean that I wouldn't be tweeting about the photos and sharing all the info online, just for laughs. If I get a public IP address then as I understand it I can just request the ISP account details in the same way I would if it was a copyright complaint.”
If you want to set your own trap, Prey is free and open source. Check it out here.
And incidentally, just so the bad guys know who they’re messing with, Mr Holloway has previously been involved in this rather deliciously executed sting on a wannabe online scamster.
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