Sager 5760 anti-theft pictures

Does anyone know if it's possible to take pictures inconspicuously from the built-in camera and have them sent somewhere? Sort of as an anti-theft measure? I know that Apple books do this, but I think it was a preplanned feature by apple.

Is there a command line interface to access the built-in camera?

Also, now that I think of it, it'd be possible to send screen shots periodically, but the pictures would be great too.

 

If you have a buddy is that handy at basic - intermediate programming skill in pretty much any language you could just have a custom application written. There is nothing magic about the camera itself on the mac.

Unfortunately you are assuming that if they stole your notebook, they would have your password to login to your computer (which you would need to auto-load the application.) You might be able to get around this by writing a service that loads before the login.. but now you are getting tricky

There is lo-jack for notebooks that is software based and sold on a subscription service. I think it run's around 19.99 a month. Same problem applies to what I said above.

 

I'm thinking having a guest account would solve the password problem. Something to get the user (thief) to pay attention for a few minutes. You can run scheduled tasks when the main user's not logged in, I think.

 

Try WebcamXP or similar with motion detection auto response system.. It works when I need to monitor from work whats going on at home.. and motion feature will alert you to any sudden changes to the webcam stream..it would be better tho to use a external web cam via usb to have something like webcam xp respond. as you can have it pointed to the door rather then wait till someone is actually already at your laptop to respond.. thats if your setting this up for a home environment.

 

The above-mentioned Lo-Jack software sounds good; it is about $45 for a one-year subscription and $90 for a three-year.

Another item you could get to protect your laptop is a lock.

 

I'd have to agree with the Lo-Jack and/or notebook lock suggestions.

Although snapshots of the thief/location may come in handy...you'd have to identify the area/building/person/etc. for it to be really helpful.

 

Mmmm... don't want to sound like a jackass here, but if your laptop is BIOS secured and most vital files are encrypted, why not just get a good insurance?

I have a complete-risk protection addition to my home insurance that fully covers (accident, stolen, lost, etc...) my lappy for less than 10$/month...

I mean honestly what would you do with the face of your thieve if he has no police file? Probably the person who will steal your laptop doesn't even know who it works and will sell it to the first interested buyer.

Plus the Kensignton numeric lock is 45$.

 

What do you do if your notebook is stolen while not in your home?

 

There are places that specialize in insurance for notebooks and computer equipment. Mine is insured for theft anywhere and accidental damage. It was around $500 AU for 2 years which is equivalent to around $400US.

vetrun

 

Exactly! It's an additional clause on my home insurance, but my lappy gets covered anywhere, even againt accidental damage.

 

Yeah, I know about the insurance. I have that too. But if you can get an IP and a photo, it makes things easier. I mean, if I somebody stole it, my thinking is, it's mine and I want it back, dammit. That being said, I'm approaching this as something that would be cool to have in place if something bad ever did happen, whether it's a realistic crime-stopper or not.

 

Unless you plan on doing a citizen's arrest (dangerous both physically and legally), there wouldn't be anything you could do unless the person that stole your notebook left if lying on a desk in a starbucks and you could take it. Otherwise you would probably be either beating someone up (illegal), breaking and entering (illegal), trespassing (illegal), not to mention you could get your own butt kicked trying to get it back yourself.

Lo-Jack is the best way to get "your" notebook back so far...

The only other thing I could honestly think to do would be find a good electrical engineering buddy to attach one of those cellphone GPS chips that 911 services use to find your location. Then you could give that information to the police and let them act on it.

The only other real choice I see is insurance like previously mentioned. This is honestly the only one that will "always" get you fixed if the worst case does happen. Lo-jack doesn't buy you a new PC if their system doesn't work. Neither does the GPS idea..

 

Thats what the Kensington Lock is for!

I carry I a Kensington Lock cable with me everywhere (This is wise as I use my laptop @ school, airports, library, etc) But I lock it up everywhere and I have seen people try to break it, crack the passcode, etc. and it stood up easily.

But I am interested as well in an app that could connect into my built-in webcam (I have a 5720) and everytime the guest account or any of the limited accounts on my laptop are accessed it takes a picture and saves it so I can access them and see who has been using my laptop. Of course Freeware > Subscription

EDIT: Oh and I forgot to say... my Kensington Lock cost $20 (At Office Depot) and it has been worth every penny

-TBird

 

what if the first thing the thief does is throw away the hard drive?

 

Haha which a smart one would probably do... Or not if he trying to get the information, not the hardware...

 

Many of the notebooks that people stole in my area always tried to sell them to a local PC repair shop for very cheap after never trying to get the running. These people were normally druggies or drunk's, not cyber criminals. It always amazed me the stories these people came up with for how they got a notebook without a power supply. Or even better, how many belonged to the state or placed like Intel where they had these obvious metal ID plates on the bottom that nobody ever checked.