Open source laptop tracking

["Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon & Hannah" <rMslade () shaw ca>]

I know some people who are going to be really upset by this, but personally, I'm 
delighted:

Researchers at the University of Washington and the University of California, San 
Diego, launched a new laptop tracking service, called Adeona, that is free and 
private. Once downloaded onto a laptop, the software starts anonymously sending 
encrypted notes about the computer’s whereabouts to servers on the Internet. If 
the laptop ever goes missing, the user downloads another program, enters a 
username and password, and then picks up this information from the servers, a 
free storage service called OpenDHT.  (The Mac version of Adeona even uses a 
freeware program called isightcapture to take a snapshot of whomever is using the 
computer.) Adeona provides the IP address that it last used as well as data on 
nearby routers. Armed with that information, law enforcement could track down 
the criminal. Because Adeona ships with an open-source license, anyone can take 
the code and improve it or even sell it. The researchers say they’re hoping that 
software developers will build all kinds of new features such as Global Positioning 
System-aware tracking systems for new platforms such as the iPhone. Later this 
month, the Adeona team will give a technical presentation at the Usenix Security 
Symposium in San Jose.  

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&tax
onomyName=security&articleId=9110128&taxonomyId=17&intsrc=kc_top

http://adeona.cs.washington.edu/

======================  (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer)
rslade () vcn bc ca     slade () victoria tc ca     rslade () computercrime org
                You don't stop laughing because you grow old;
                   you grow old because you stop laughing.
victoria.tc.ca/techrev/rms.htm      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Slade

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