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Apple Knows Who Stole Your iPod

sdreader.com — Apple maintains records of stolen iPod serial numbers. Apple's iTunes software records the serial number of the last connected iPod. Apple sells songs to people that enter their billing information into the iTunes software. So why isn't Apple doing anything to prevent the sale of songs to the person with your stolen iPod?

Who dugg this? Made popular Sep 4, 2006

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  • mastercheif, on 10/12/2007, -4/+94Lol, like people who STEAL iPods are going to LEAGALY buy songs off of iTunes.
  • noliberalbull, on 10/12/2007, -3/+47I've kinda wondered that for awhile... its like a cell phone. Stolen cell phones are worthless because the second you try to connect it, you are pinpointed and found. Same should be true with iPods theoretically.
  • NSResponder, on 10/12/2007, -8/+51Just consider the liability pitfall here, if Apple mistakenly identifies an iPod as stolen, tips the cops off, and it turns out that the person in possession of it turns out to be legit.

    No surprise there, at all.

    -jcr

  • geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -5/+45"That or someone could just type in one number wrong when entering the serial number."

    Or better yet, someone could borrow or take a good look at your iPod, record the serial number, and report it stolen (and have you, the owner, reported as a thief, as long as the iPod wasn't purchased using a credit card or at the online store). The person who actually owns the iPod then looks like he stole your iPod and they're up a creek if they can't find a receipt or a box or some proof they actually purchased the thing.

    There are a million instances of this, and other companies that do this have dealt with these things before (I've personally had people implicated in stealing their own laptops at the college in my town, mainly because the college passes out laptops to everyone who goes to the college, and it can often be weird seeing someone pick up a laptop that's just been laying out and walking away). It can be a long struggle to clear your name, and it's a pain in the ass for the company to deal with. Meanwhile, there's this whole agency, available in most every town in the nation, whose sole occupation is to track down these kinds of things. It's called the Police Department. They're trained to deal with stolen cars, bikes, computers, and theoretically iPods, surgical pins, animals with RFID tags, or anything else that has a serial number and can be entered into NCIC.

    So really, let's let the damned authorities do their job. We don't need company's being vigilantes.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+38some people don't know their iPod is a stolen iPod...ever hear of eBay?
  • osbjmg, on 10/12/2007, -3/+35Well it knows who connects them, but the thief could have sold it to an unwitting buyer... would Apple want to get in the business of investigating burglary?

    Maybe let the police do it and then if they have a warrant, Apple can hand it over - that's how it always works, why would Apple be different?
  • Nothlit, on 10/12/2007, -7/+39Nah, you just have to connect the iFlux Capacitor to your device, load up a song at 88 kbps, and voila! 1.21 jigabytes!
  • Rice, on 10/12/2007, -19/+45Jigabyes!

    I want me some of them.

    I claim that a Jigabyes is 1000 zetabytes, or something.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+25big brother is watching, and he knows you ahve Britney Spears on your stolen iPod.
  • Muyoso, on 10/12/2007, -3/+24What thief is going to steal an Ipod and then pay a dollar a song for music? Maybe there is some idiot out there like that, but seems to me they might just download some free music to go with their free ipod.
  • Flanker, on 10/12/2007, -7/+24@Rice: 1000 zettabytes is a yottabyte.
  • colincornaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13"Yes you have to use iTunes to put music on your ipod. Apple doesn't adhere to industry standards on this subject and have a very monopolistic hold with the ipod... they call it vertical integration but it's a monopoly...."

    Ummm no. There are lots of other programs that let you put tunes on your iPod. There are even some iPod plugins for Windows media player. How do you think people use Linux native programs to load songs on the iPod? Magic?

    As for industry standard... ummmm... there ISN'T an industry standard. Every company has their own way of loading tunes on a MP3 player. The only thing they have in common is that, including Apple, you can usually just load the tunes on the player's drive.

    I'm tried of the anti-Apple comments that are really just urban legend and not fact.
  • DrakeGTA, on 10/12/2007, -6/+19Someone might sell their ipod and report it stolen, knew a guy who bought a car and then the guy who soled it reported it stolen.

    That or someone could just type in one number wrong when entering the serial number.
  • Prometheus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Actually they make next to squat from song sales... it's all about the iPods
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14"The iPods don't make Apple any money"


    Are you ***** stupid?
  • d2nd, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15@benitojuarez
    dude, everyone knows what a serial number is, no need to provide a wiki link and call someone a noob.

    your post has nothing to do with TGMD's complaints about serial number tracking through iTunes.
  • TGMD, on 10/12/2007, -26/+35Here's a Question: Why is Apple storing/tracking our iPod serial Numbers?

    I bet there scared to let this type of thing go public (in a major way) out of fear of litigation. Hell After hearing this I'm pretty pissed....

    ... Oh well No one ever said apple wasn't evil...
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12It isn't Apple's job to play police. How would they know an iPod is stolen? Word of mouth? Too much liability. -Digg.
  • imjustabill, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Its not as easy to drag and drop files like it is with creative or other mp3 players, but you can use other programs besides itunes to put music on your ipod. Just about any linux music player like banshee, amarok, or rythmbox will do it. On windows you can use yamipod, podmanager, or anapod. The nice thing about these is you can also take music off, as well as add!
  • se1zure, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9"It is why they need to track what that serial number purchases"

    There are lots of reasons... for one, they can get all sorts of statistics... like, for example, if they happen to know that the majority of garth brooks listeners are in their 40's, and the majority of songs by garth brooks are made for 20 gb photo ipods, then they can likely say the most popular ipod for 40 year olds is the 20 gb photo ipod, so they may like something simpler without all the features, thus, they can use this gathered info to make a new ipod in teh future that is targeted towards this age group which may be lacking in sales.
  • nocode, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7It should be up to the person who got their iPod stolen to put a claim for investigation. Apple may store these serial #'s, but it's not their fault that one's iPod got stolen. For instance, if you see a bogus charge on your credit card, you have to file a claim to the bank for investigation in order to get your money back and then the person will go through the process with the police.
  • se1zure, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8"they have no right to do demographic/marketing research without my explicit permission"

    Welcome to the buisness world. Almost every purchase you make ends up becoming some sort of recorded statistic, that will likely be later used for marketing purposes...

    So your saying you need to sign a release form every time you buy a candy bar from the store, just in case Nestle may find out you like that certain type of candy.... seriously, the only reason your even here is to make up lame excuses of why you think apple sucks.
  • MrDiaz, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9"So why isn't Apple doing anything to prevent the sale of songs to the person with your stolen iPod?"

    Because if they do, there is going to be somebody who is going to complain to Apple for not respecting the privacy of these users.
  • bigdogap83, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Actually, technically speaking, I don't think MS can not make a ***** OS.
  • vanmeir, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7As the linked article notes, Apple would surely be criticised as Big Brother-ish if it started checking everyone's iPod to see if it was stolen. And, of course, mistakes are inevitable. Imagine the Digg stories that would result if Apple disabled someone's iPod in the mistaken belief that it was stolen.

    Another complication is that Apple doesn't really know who stole your iPod -- at most, they know who has it now. In many cases, that would be someone who innocently bought it on eBay or somewhere else on the secondary market.
  • DPowers08, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Lots of people try to connect their iPods to a friend's computer to try to upload some of their friend's music to their iPod (unaware that you can't easily do this, but disregard that). The owner of the iPod has it registered at home. Once he connects it to the new computer and iTunes opens with an Internet connection, his buddy is labeled a thief.
  • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The article says Apple tracks iPod serial numbers, but there's no evidence cited to back it.

    There's simply to reason to believe Apple is spying on you.
  • dignon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Thankfully, Apple is smarter than this guy.
  • quazywabbit, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5actually i think its the other way around. on every music sell they might see a dime and of that time 1/3rd is used to further develop the network and another 1/3rd for all the people who work on itunes most likely. So off each song they might see about 4ยข if that. On an iPod they most likely make 50% profit seeing as how it is made in a factory in china. I know there was a link somewhere giving a breakdown of how much the iPod costs to make.
  • dopesick, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9Too many people watching CSI, and not knowing the real facts I see.

    First of all Apple doesn't have to do squat. However, if a person says someone stole it, and apple can help prove that, they CAN be subpoena'd by law to provide the documentation of a serial number mismatch. However it still comes down the the original owners burder of proof that said iPod is indeed theirs.

    In which the records don't work that way in reality. The "owner" of the iPod will be required to show proof of purchase. PLUS will be required to fill a lost/stolen property report with the local police department or other local LEO department.
  • jamesdwi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5come on people get a clue, people that "STEAL IPODS" dont buy music, if they bought music they would buy an ipod or a clone, people that steal ipods, either use plain mp3s ( that they grabbed on p2p) on them or live with the music bought and paid for by the previous owner. they would never go on line with the stolen ipod they would be too afriaid that they would get caught anyway.

  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4gmillerd...tell me how it helps Apple to know that the owner of iPod #2352463d enjoys polka music? They need to know what people like, not what the owners of each iPod likes.
  • se1zure, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4So if somone breaks into my house and steals my tv, then the company that made the tv shoudl do the investigation???? that makes a whole lot of sense.
  • willjc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3the article is talking about the scenario in which you have already reported your ipod stolen,
    so, if the serial shows up in any itunes transaction, apple would know that the thief is trying to use it (and should lock them out much as cell phone companies lock out service on stolen phones)

    the irony here is that someone is willing to steal an ipod costing hundreds but will still go and pay 99cents for the songs?
  • reed311, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7Apple is not a law enforcement agency. Even if they were to turn over their information to the police, you are dealing with circumstantial evidence. Police are not going to waste their time on stolen Ipods. They are busy busting people going 5mph over the speed limit and busting legal adults for drinking alcohol.
  • TGMD, on 10/12/2007, -10/+12Yeah I figured that, my main problem is that if this was Microsoft or any other "evil" corporation everyone would be making a *****-fit about it... rightfully I might ad, they have no right to do demographic/marketing research without my explicit permission NOT implicit!
  • exiva, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2What good will it do if your iPod's serial number is sent back to Apple and housed in a Database? Most people who steal iPod's are smart enough to NOT take it into the store. It would only be useful if they did take it in to the store. It's not like Apple will log the IP addresses and then cross trianglulate the IP address to a Physical Address and send in the ATF to recover your iPod. If your iPod is stolen there's not much you can do and pratically nothing Apple can do, unless your theif has a problem with the iPod and has to bring it into the store.

    I have seen someone bring an iPod they found into the store and have them look up the AppleCare information, I don't know what turned out from that because I had left. I assume they found the owners address from them registering it and maybe sent it to them or contacted them somehow.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3No but there is Lo Jack for Laptops

    http://www.lojackforlaptops.com/

    Seems pretty damn decent!
  • tjlsmith, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Apple is storing your serial # because it is part of the long term plan to get computers and the internet back from the geeks and the public and into the hands of the rich and the powerful, who figure they deserve it and are pissed they let it get away to begin with.

    Soon you will buy your computer, pay for your computer and own your computer, but it will not work for you - it will work for them.

  • Yage2006, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"why isn't Apple doing anything to prevent the sale of songs to the person with your stolen iPod?"

    Money ?
  • Scott2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The last line of the article description is a joke, right? Not only would that be logistically impossible, it would be a SonyBMG size violation of privacy rights.
  • Ahnteis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The article says that itunes will recommend purchases based on the last ipod connected. That's how you know it tracks the ipod serial number / contents.
  • 21.0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why you ask? Because people that steal iPods also steal music. They don't buy it; especially not from Apple.
  • oookye, on 10/12/2007, -7/+9I don't think someone who steals an iPod would buy songs off the tunes music store.
  • scotty321, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The article makes no sense at all, and is factually inaccurate. The article states:

    "iTunes recommends songs through the serial numbers of the last iPod connected to a computer."

    This is ABSOLUTELY UNTRUE! iTunes does NOT recommend songs based on the last iPod connected to it. It recommends songs based on your purchasing history, and your own music library installed on that computer.

    This story is false.
  • earthtoandy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If apple were to be recording these serial numbers, beyond displaying them in the application, you guys would Digg about Apple being BIG BROTHER! Oh Em GEE!

    Pick a side. I would choose the side of privacy versus recording these numbers to catch petty thiefs. Not the police....
  • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The article says Apple recommends songs based upon the serial number of the last iPod connected to your computer.

    That's not true.

    The iPod maintains playcounts (and times?) of the songs on the iPod. When the iPod is attached to the computer, it downloads that data and perhaps uses it to recommend songs. But the serial number isn't necessary for that process. So using this as evidence that Apple records the serial number isn't accurate.

    Even if Apple does record serial numbers, why don't they blacklist them somehow? Because it'd be a huge hassle to administer it. People would buy iPods secondhand and insist they should work. They might even buy them secondhand legitimately (perhaps at police auctions of recovered property) and expect them to work. Some people would report their iPods as stolen and then find them in the couch later. Furthermore, some jokers would report their friends' iPods as stolen as a gag.

    It'd be a total nightmare. So Apple doesn't do it. Stop snivelling.
  • altjeringa, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3well what happens if your evil girl(boy)friend gives you an iPod and then when you break up (s)he decides that you should give it back but you decide not to and it's reported stolen? do you really think it's apples business to deal with that kinda crap?

    they could require a police report to track it, but even then... there is the cost of maintaining all that and hiring people to accept stolen iPod reports... etc...

    what an exceptionally ignorant idea.
  • magic6435, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"@tgmd track the version of the hardware in use, what music on what platforms people like."

    And you don't see a problem with that?
  • quazywabbit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2But if the LoJack peoples don't recover your lappy in 30 days all you get back is the purchase price of LoJack. To be honest it might be better to get an insurance policy on your laptop.
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