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Dateline "exposes" iPod thieves via hidden camera
engadget.com — There's probably nothing quite as embarrassing as being ambushed on national television by Chris Hansen for stealing a measly iPod. Of course, NBC's crack team of journalists are just trying to expose the growing trend of iPod theft in the world... or kick up their ratings.
SeaMowse- 566 diggs
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- jake57, on 10/10/2007, -3/+32Yeah, I saw this when it first aired.
Completely ridiculous the way they make apple look for not keeping a database of every iPod ever, especially with their 'hidden cameras' and dramatic music, and how they portray people who take iPods from an empty table.- drouk1556, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5"I.....am Chris Hansen"
- nofrak1, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5They do have a database of every registered iPod, at least.
- KibibyteBrain, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4...usable only under a very strict ToS, which probably doesn't include tracking their users iPods around the globe in a 1984-esque fashion, or even communicating the registration information to police without a subpoena.
- MrPeach, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0There is absolutely no reason a registered owner couldn't report it stolen and have tracking information supplied to them regarding the IP that is used to connect to apple when that device it attached. If not to them, then to the police who could then track that person easily via their ISP.
Apple is being an ***** here. No court anywhere is going to convict them of anything bad in connection with tracking down a stolen iPod. They are just being jackasses plain and simple. If they need to be forced by law, then let's force them. I'm a Libertarian, but this clearly falls under the category of a good and useful law.
- MrPeach, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0There is absolutely no reason a registered owner couldn't report it stolen and have tracking information supplied to them regarding the IP that is used to connect to apple when that device it attached. If not to them, then to the police who could then track that person easily via their ISP.
- KibibyteBrain, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4...usable only under a very strict ToS, which probably doesn't include tracking their users iPods around the globe in a 1984-esque fashion, or even communicating the registration information to police without a subpoena.
- cyrix, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4But that makes you an iJacker... Or at least this is what the call it. I lol'd after hearing them say that.
I'm an iJacker...but only in private. - Mouser58907, on 10/10/2007, -6/+4Don't show their faces?!?!, they should throw those ***** in jail! There no good thieves.
- Randinn, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Wow, you've been dug-down for that statement, I wonder how many thieves did it....
- ShrimpCrackers, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Maybe. But running a database that works with the authorities or works online to track or trace who last registered the iPod or which IP it last connected online from is really really easy. Writing a program like that could be done overnight.
The only reason why I think Apple doesn't bother with iPod thieves is not for privacy reasons, but because if your iPod is stolen, there is a great chance you'll simply buy another.
- Slicebox, on 10/10/2007, -1/+94Not surprisingly, most people caught and confronted by Chris Hanson said they just wanted to hang out with the iPod, they didn't know the iPod was that young...
- ChromaVita, on 10/10/2007, -1/+33I swear, she told me she was a G2!
- nixonrichard, on 10/10/2007, -0/+32What do you have in the bag there? Looks like an armband, and docking station and . . .what's this? A protective sleeve? What were you planing to do with that?
- real2, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7Mind if I sit down and think this over? I'm feeling very nauseous.
- nixonrichard, on 10/10/2007, -0/+32What do you have in the bag there? Looks like an armband, and docking station and . . .what's this? A protective sleeve? What were you planing to do with that?
- ChromaVita, on 10/10/2007, -1/+33I swear, she told me she was a G2!
- fpcyber, on 10/10/2007, -6/+45***** Blog Spam
MSNBC Dateline Article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20078671/ - maretten, on 10/10/2007, -4/+11Don't they have predators to catch?
- jmpeagle, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11one minute you're stealing iPods, the next minute you're molesting children. It's inevitale. Have to stop them before they harm the children.
- indicas, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5No, the cops do.
- ChromaVita, on 10/10/2007, -10/+4To Catch iPredator...
- Me1000, on 10/10/2007, -2/+14To catch a Podophile!
- thenativeraver, on 10/10/2007, -10/+2I was on d8line once.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G9H3IYoQME- 808kick, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Old school
- slayersharpe, on 10/10/2007, -5/+26The people aren't stealing them! There's a difference between breaking in or mugging someone for an ipod and finding one. They just leave the ipods unattended in high traffic areas. I wouldn't rob someone but I sure as hell would take one if I found it on the street.
- smackywentz, on 10/10/2007, -8/+16A lot of these Dateline scandals boil down to entrapment.
- tehpwnrate, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Entrapment is getting someone to commit a crime they would not otherwise have committed. As in, someone convinces you to commit a crime (in a court of law, this means the police). This is a sting because whether the Dateline people put the iPod and the purse there, or whether someone legitimately left it, the result would have been the same.
- smackywentz, on 10/10/2007, -4/+3This disagreement is why U.S. law is open to interpretation.
- tehpwnrate, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Entrapment is getting someone to commit a crime they would not otherwise have committed. As in, someone convinces you to commit a crime (in a court of law, this means the police). This is a sting because whether the Dateline people put the iPod and the purse there, or whether someone legitimately left it, the result would have been the same.
- onetimer, on 10/10/2007, -11/+7Oh boy another digg paralegal.
Dictionary.com: "en·trap·ment: –noun: 1. The luring by a law-enforcement agent of a person into committing a crime."
Neither Chris Hansen or Dateline NBC are law enforcement agents, meaning what they do is NOT Entrapment. Even if they were Law Enforcement, it is always the pedophile that contacts the "14 year old" first anyways. It's called a sting. It would ONLY be entrapment if they contacted the individual and invited them over.- kindrobot, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Oh boy, another digger who forgot to look somewhere besides dictionary.com:
Main Entry: en·trap·ment
Pronunciation: -m&nt
Function: noun
1 a : the action or process of entrapping b : the condition of being entrapped
2 : the action of luring an individual into committing a crime in order to prosecute the person for it
Notice even two does not specifically mention law enforcement? One makes it clear you're dead wrong.- tehpwnrate, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Neither of you are right about how entrapment is used in this case. See my reply above.
- kindrobot, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Oh boy, another digger who forgot to look somewhere besides dictionary.com:
- blitzman, on 10/10/2007, -6/+4"The people aren't stealing them!"
Yes, they are.
" There's a difference between breaking in or mugging someone for an ipod and finding one."
Breaking & entering, and mugging are different crimes than stealing, that's true.
"They just leave the ipods unattended in high traffic areas."
That doesn't make them yours.
"I wouldn't rob someone but I sure as hell would take one if I found it on the street."
That would make you a thief.- slayersharpe, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5You have alot of time don't you.
- kindrobot, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3What if it were a dollar? If you take a discarded dollar, does that make you a thief? Is it value that makes someone a thief? Your logic is goofy.
- blitzman, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Taking something that isn't yours is what makes you a thief.
- Scienceisfun, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0Yeah, but kindrobot is right about the value issue, at least practically, if not legally. Another related practical issue is traceability -- you could potentially track down an iPod's true owner (without Dateline's tracking software), while the particular owner of a 20 dollar bill would be virtually untraceable. Is it illegal to take the twenty, without making a police report? Probably, but nearly unenforceable. And I bet that taking the iPods is "letter of the law" illegal too, but it's a pretty sleazy Dateline tactic, you have to admit. Finally, if you've ever downloaded software off the internet (and if you're on Digg, you probably have) you probably don't have much of a leg to stand on in calling these people thieves.
- Nudar, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6You're still a thief. I leave my car parked on the street. It doesn't mean it's fair game for anyone to come take nor is an ipod I leave in the front seat. Why are people digging up the thief?
- blitzman, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3I find it sad that people feel entitled to steal things if they can get away with it, and sadder still that they'd defend their behavior in public. It makes us all the poorer for it.
- tehpwnrate, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2Exactly--should you take my car if my keys are in it? What about my laptop if I leave it in the back of my car with the doors unlocked? Where do you draw the line? Anyway, in a mall there is NO excuse. A mall has security you can easily tell about it. That's their job.
- Onyxblaze, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1If i find a slightly scraped up iPod in the gutter, I'm taking it home on the grounds that it was most likely abandoned or forgotten. If I see it on a bench I give it to the police or whoever is in charge.
- tehpwnrate, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3You have got to be kidding me. The woman grabs the iPod out of a purse left behind, and walks away. She SHOULD have turned in the purse, with the wallet that would have been inside were it real, and the iPod, to the police or a local lost and found (if they were at a mall). It's called being a good person. You don't just leave someone's valuables (credit cards, keys, driver's license, new iPod, etc) sitting there, and it's even worse to take some of that stuff. I wouldn't call it "stealing" per se, but it's definitely a despicable act and I'm ashamed that people seem to think otherwise.
- smackywentz, on 10/10/2007, -8/+16A lot of these Dateline scandals boil down to entrapment.
- AriaStar, on 10/10/2007, -1/+47"Found: iPod, white, exactly like millions of others, no identifying characteristics. Please identify to claim."
WTF are they expecting when they LEAVE them to be found?
They're setting people up, then calling it theft. If this were in a store and no employees around, then yeah, it's still theft. But to leave them in the open? At that point, it's just finders keepers when there's not a way to really find an owner.
I once found a high-end camera on the train, listed it on Craigslist, and had several people claim it via e-mail, and not one got a major identifying detail right. I later chucked it on eBay. By Dateline's standards, I'm a thief for stealing a camera I found on a train seat.- Scheissen, on 10/10/2007, -7/+6Well stealing is stealing. I'd imagine the plastic bag for some of those stings had the receipt with them to identify the owner. But if it didn't then there would be no way to find the real owner.
- sdfjkln, on 10/10/2007, -8/+3You found a camera on a train? Why the hell would you take it home with you? Take it to the lost and found. These people knew they were stealing, one person in the mall took the planted bag to the lost and found but not before taking the iPod. They knew what they were doing, they're thieves.
- tehpwnrate, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Well, at least you put the camera on Craigslist. Although in hindsight, you should probably have dropped it off at the train station because that's where the person who lost it would be calling. Either way, it's wrong to just grab something that doesn't belong to you and keep it, especially without making an effort to find the owner. Calling it "stealing" if it were just lost may be a bit much, but it's still wrong.
- RVDsb, on 10/10/2007, -11/+3In Soviet Russia iPod "exposes" you.
- HunterTV, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6stop
- NintendoFan, on 10/10/2007, -6/+1All I have to say is that if anyone watches this on a rerun, it would be perfect for a drinking game. Every time they say iPod, take a shot or something. It's rediculous, they said the word a good 10 times a minute or so. Rediculous Dateline...
- xero69, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20078671/
- ShyGuy91284, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5"There's probably nothing quite as embarrassing as being ambushed on national television by Chris Hansen for stealing a measly iPod. " Whatch the show more often. I can assure you, there is.....
- senatorpjt, on 10/10/2007, -1/+21Nothing as embarrassing? I'd much rather be caught picking up an iPod I found on the street than showing up expecting to molest a kid.
- MasterFunk, on 10/10/2007, -0/+17"Why don't you take a seat right over there and tell me what you planned on doing with that iPod"
- KingGorilla, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I am so sorry! My wife is an evil evil woman and I haven't gotten laid in months! All I do is work and support her children from another marriage and when I come home at night I get nothing and the ipod just looked so sleek and shiny and., and, and I'm a monster!!!
- kenwestin, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Can you how me on the iPod doll?
- InetRoadkill, on 10/10/2007, -5/+5I wish Dateline and the other so-called investigative news organizations would quit wasting the public's time with this trite ***** and focus more on their constitutional responsibilities as a govt watchdog. There's a major constitutional showdown in the making and it's hardly even being mentioned in the US news. The foreign press is doing a far better job at covering our govt than the US press and that's really sad.
- 808kick, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2They should do a "To catch a bribe taking US Government Official" or something
- sticksnstones, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I was unaware that Dateline, or any other company had "constitutional responsibilities". How are they a designated government watchdog?
- jhaven, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8"There's probably nothing quite as embarrassing as being ambushed on national television by Chris Hansen for stealing a measly iPod"
Except, maybe, being ambushed on national television by Chris Hansen for attempting to solicit sex from a minor...- kenwestin, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Why not go for the fully monty and solicit sex with a minor in exchange for a stolen iPod.
- inobla, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Bah. I wish all iPod articles were labeled as Apple news so my filter would stop them from coming up. I'm so sick of all the *****.
- dgarallenpoe, on 10/10/2007, -3/+7Dateline has become one of the most evil shows on television. Let me get this straight...you leave an ipod on a bench in the mall or park all by itself and someone takes it, and that's stealing? Then you trick these people in to going somewhere and exposing them before millions of viewers as thieves. Even if you could argue that it was theft, and, admittedly in some situations it was, deliberately ruining one reputation before so many people via tactics of entrapment is a far more sever penalty than would ever be meted out, typically, for such an offense in a court of law. Dateline claims the moral high ground when in fact they are the lowest of the bottom feeders. Totally shameful.
- err0r503, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5I remember when Dateline was a good and informative show.
- tokyopimp, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I'm sorry, but if I see an iPod on a bench, I would try my best to find out whom it belonged to and give it back. I guess stuff like that matters to me, because given the position of having stupidly left my iPod on a bench I would hope that someone would do the same. What can I say I am a nice person, and I would wish that most people would do the same.
I'm not agreeing with dateline and how they do things, but stealing is stealing, no matter how you try to spin it. If you see something on a bench that was left by someone else obviously as an iPod is not a natural thing, then you are stealing.
Hey I leave my car in parking lots all the time, without anyone sitting near it. So I guess it's okay to take it? - 808kick, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3So If i find your house keys or car keys, then proceed to find your car or house just sitting there you'd be cool with it?
- edlowe0, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12I would have sex with an underage iPod.
- Klowner, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Which was purchased with stolen credit card numbers and then shipped to Nigeria by some gullible slob living in some trailer in Alabama.
- DietMountainDew, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10Sorry, but if you're dumb enough to leave your new iPod on the street unattended it is fair game for anyone as far as I am concerned.
- Nudar, on 10/10/2007, -4/+2That's because you're a thief as far as I am concerned.
- actorboy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Dateline is the new Cheaters.
- MarkOfTheDead, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2until chris hansen gets stabbed.
oh wait, that's still just like cheaters.
- MarkOfTheDead, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2until chris hansen gets stabbed.
- techweenie, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Nest week: Zune-jackers.
- HunterTV, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4"Zune owners are purposely leaving their Zunes all over the place for someone else to take them off their hands, it's becoming a real problem."
- zigman91090, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Who the hell would steal a zune?
- Onyxblaze, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Me. It makes for a good porn holder.
- nick0909, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Someone would have to own one first
- kindrobot, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10I find it endlessly hilarious to imagine what must go through someone's brain when Chris Hansen walks up to them. Even if they just snagged an ipod, they must be going through a mental inventory of who they've chatted with, who they've slept with, who they've spoken to, etc.
"was she 18? she said she was 22.... " - FoxOrian, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3"Some of the iPods were not found probably because they were never connected to a computer."
Yeah, or, you know, they were Mac users....- richaoj, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1or they used the ipod without the piece of ***** software known as itunes . . . has nothing to do with pc/mac . . . dumbass
- kenwestin, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Or they were not retarded. The software was not installed on the iPod. It was a CD-ROM disguised to look like an activation disc.
- orangester, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3What, no Mike's Hard Lemonade for the iPod?
btw... I lol'd at i-jacking. - billybopalou, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1these same idiots at dateline and NBC didnt have one peep of criticism and were cheerleaders for the war in Iraq in 2003 thats killed hundreds of thousands, now theyre the moral authority?
- Calcularius, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2woozle wuzzle
- Qtip42, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1Chris Hansen just gained about 100 cool points in my book. That is an awesome sting operation. Instead of being nice though, I'd have a group of people on site that would beat the hell out of the person who stole it though. Much more entertaining plus it makes them really learn their lesson.
- morningmatters, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4WTF, next time they should do a show based on stolen GPS systems. I got mine stolen last week and according to the police dozens are stolen daily in boston.
- kenwestin, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2You should check out GadgetTrak (http://www.gadgettheft.com) it works with several brands of GPS systems and is the original iPod tracking software, they even have a patent-pending.
- moebob24, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Dateline needs to just quit....thats like putting candy in front of a child and expecting that kid to not reach for it...its gonna happen...dateline did a good thing by catching the pervs for a little while but now its just gone over board
- m4ttjirM, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1You all know very well if you were walking down the street and see a bag that has a little black box and a picture of a white video i-pod you would all be thinkin - "JACKPOTTT" its like walking down the street and seeing 250 bucks in cash sitting there under a tree... are you going to call the cops and tell them you just found 250 in cash?
Also -- isn't there some kind of issue for the fact that they made fake cd's that said were going to register to apple and that just sent all their personal information to freak show chris and dateline nbc? Isn't there some kind of privacy issue or something with that? I watched the show and i was just thinkin "what the *****.... is this legal" and yes I know that they weren't supposed to take the ipod in the first place but wtf... track them down to their houses? any human would of taken the ipod. any of you guys notice how overly dramatic he is anyways?- KingGorilla, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1if it's in a little black box or under a tree it's probably blood money
- thepierce, on 10/10/2007, -3/+0Notice how all the People who stole the iPods were Windows Users!
- mr.hostility, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Up next on Dateline...
"We leave $300 in cash on a bench in the park and watch it disappear!" - xSEED, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5stick with predators dude
- mirzar, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2dateline's theory is flawed because
1. its most likely that you wont lose a brand new iPod and so the thief wont have to register it
2. most people already have iTunes installed so they wouldnt install iTunes from the CD that had the tracking software
btw the mall in the dateline video is garden state plaza in paramus,nj- kenwestin, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1You should check out GadgetTrak (http://www.gadgettheft.com) it is actual tracking software you install on your iPod. This story is actually a bit of a rip off of GadgetTrak.
- dryanal, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I wonder if the iTunes gift cards actually have a balance on them or if using them sends all their info to the NSA.
- spargett, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2That was so gay.
- kenwestin, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1The ipod tracking technology has been around for quite a while folks and you saw it on Digg first:
http://www.digg.com/gadgets/iPod_Stolen_Have_it_call_home
GadgetTrak (http://www.gadgettrak.com) actually has a patent pending for their technology. It would have been nice of Dateline to describe that in a bit more detail. GadgetTrak was also featured on Engadget, Wired, Geek Brief and a whole host of others. Dateline is so behind the times. - unexplainedmilk, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4What's more disturbing is that they paid $40,000 for this phony registration app. WTF!?!! There's not even a Mac version... they should included a huge card or sticker inside that told them to go to ipodregistration.com or something official-sounding/looking to cover Mac users and even just had Windows auto-run that website for the people that used the iTunes CD (I can't believe any of these people didn't already have iTunes) and skipped the Windows form application altogether.
- sohyunw, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Where did you get the information on the $40K?
- caponumen, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1You just know that this Hansen creep has skeletons ready to burst from multiple closets.
Karmas gonna get you boy........ - Barbarino, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I love how you digg idiots justify stealing. So only if your ipod was stolen from a safe do you consider it not their fault???
- VioletArrows, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I think the best part of that was, they only recovered one, and one boy's parents offered to pay for one. Everyone else got to keep theirs with naught but a slap on the wrist and a free 15 minutes of fame, and they embarrassed some innocent people on national tv because they didn't know they received stolen merchandise.
Good job, guys. Nice reporting, there. - slapded, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1dateline is the devil. total entrapment
- HiroProX, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0I guess this was to make up for the embarrassing debacle at Defcon.
- ZiggityZhang, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Direct link to videos (scroll down)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20078671/page/3/
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