Hello, I haven't seen anything more about the "Anti-Thief Software" on the GNOME ideas page except that it is in the "Other" category. Still no mentor listed. Since I've had some time to think about it, I thought I'd throw out my brainstorming for feedback. Depending on the scope, perhaps not all of these will be implemented for GSoC, but it's a starting point for future work. The basic idea behind this project is to install software that could perform the following, similar to Front Door Software's Retriever: (1) When the laptop has realized it has been kidnapped, it can notify the thief and surrounding individuals that the laptop was stolen, perhaps offering a reward; if neighbors hear the laptop talking, they might call the authorities. The recording could be preset or custom, allowing the owner to record a message in his/her own voice. The Guardian article mentions that the software could also provide contact details and reward information (e.g. "$50 for my safe return"). (2) Once the laptop has realized it has been kidnapped, it can repeatedly attempt to connect to a central server reporting as much information as it can gather. Dates, times, network information (IP addresses, etc.), webcam shots, connected devices (perhaps the thief inserted a mass storage device), etc. This information can be used to locate or at least follow the laptop. This assumes a network is accessible. The laptop could use a Wi-Fi signal--anything unencrypted and open, perhaps a hot spot. Geoclue might help with this. (Could something other than Wi-Fi be used? Bluetooth to a neighboring device, connect to a cell phone, etc?) The article mentioned that MacTrack (for Mac) sends images via e-mail or uploads them to a Flickr account. (3) This would run all the time; not only when kidnapped. Normally, the laptop could periodically connect to a central server to find out if its owner has submitted a "lost/stolen report" on itself; if so, the laptop would immediately consider itself stolen and begin performing the tasks reported above. This could probably be done once at startup and then every so often; perhaps the interval should be configurable by the user. (4) This might not be desirable, but if there are too many failed login attempts, perhaps that could kick the laptop into "stolen mode" as well; on the other hand, why would a thief attempt to login to someone's laptop three times? (5) The software could be really annoying (red/yellow message every 30 seconds) or really stealth (6) The article also mentioned something that I wouldn't touch unless I have a good backup solution: When it realizes it's stolen, it will start deleting files (Absolute LoJack). For those that have an encrypted hard drive, they won't need to worry about this one, but many of us don't have that yet. Additional Notes: Here's the centalized vs. peer-to-peer debate; perhaps some time should go into thinking which way would be better. Perhaps some sort of "Amber Alert" feature could be implemented in the future. "As the central server, if I get a report about a reported stolen Laptop A transmitting info from Location Z, and I know alert-enabled Laptops B, C, and D are also currently at Location Z, then I can notify them to look out for Laptop A in that area and to call the authorities if they have information." Assumptions: Clearly, this will be useless if the thief performs one of the following upon theft: (1) wipes out the hard drive, (2) removes the hard drive, (3) boots via some LiveCD, (4) doesn't turn the laptop on, or (5) doesn't connect to any network. The author of the article also mentioned CompuTrace, whose agent is built into the BIOS chip. This meant that it would still work even if the theif changed OSes or replaced the hard drive. I wonder if there's some sort of integration that could be done with that. That's basically a summary of the article with my take on it. The ultimate goal of this is to provide some sort of anti-theft device on a Linux laptop. Even if developed for GNOME, it would work on KDE as well with appropriate libraries installed. It seems like this would be a new project, so it shouldn't touch or change any existing code. Feedback is welcome. Thanks! -----Original Message----- From: Jawaad Ahmad <jawaadahmad32 webster edu> To: gnome-soc-list gnome org Subject: soc: Anti-Thief Software Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:48:09 -0400 Hi, all, I've been browsing the different organizations and their project ideas, and I like the anti-thief software idea that someone has placed here: http://live.gnome.org/SummerOfCode2009/Ideas ...I read the Guardian article referenced; the ideas mentioned there sound good, but will probably need to be prioritized for anyone's proposal.
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