Combating Gadget Theft

OK, let’s be totally honest here. If you were to have your iPod stolen outright, would you honest even bothering to report it? If you are like most people, it is pretty unlikely based on most people’s perceptions of dealing with small, stolen items. I think that most people take it as a loss. Well now, there may be a solution to this after all of this time.

As electronic products shrink in size, they grow in allure, not only to consumers but also to thieves. Lightweight and easy to conceal hand-helds, laptops and music players are sleek, valuable and often carried around as casually as a set of keys.

Because they can just as casually wind up in the wrong hands, a growing number of tracking-and-recovery services and other forms of coverage are available to help protect the gadget owner.

Only yesterday, the New York City police reported that a recent increase in subway crime was primarily attributable to thefts of portable devices, largely cellphones and iPods. But the phenomenon is not limited to the subway, of course - and is not always reflected in crime statistics.

Antonio Dominguez, 25, a construction project manager in New York whose iPod was stolen at his gym, was so upset that he joined a different gym. A sign in his new locker room announced that a member’s iPod had been stolen there, too. Like many victims, Mr. Dominguez did not think of reporting the theft. [Read the rest]