iPod and cell phone craze blamed for spike in subway crime

 Thefts of Ipod portable music players and of cell phones fueled a 20 percent spike last month in New York city subways, officials said, reports The Ithica Journal

"In some cases, bandits have lifted the iPods from unsuspecting straphangers. In others, the thieves -- after spotting victims wearing the telltale white earphones -- have snatched the devices and fled out train doors.

Reports of cell phone thefts have more than doubled to 165 from 82 last year. The thieves target high-tech models that allow them to insert their own computer cards and take over service, police said.

On Web sites, iPod devotees have shared their own crimefighting tips. Some advise always keeping the devices concealed and switching to cheaper-looking earphones.

One site sold retropod kits, which would allow subway riders to disguise their iPods by concealing them inside the bulky casings of old Sony Walkmans.

from the Washington Post

washingtonpost.com

By Robert MacMillan
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Thursday, April 28, 2005; 10:18 AM

When it comes to the iPod, the press corps -- myself included -- put on our best pack journalism act. Our coverage is comprehensive and, boy, is it breathless! And why wouldn't it be? New York City transportation officials say portable electronic devices, notably iPods, are almost entirely responsible for a spike in subway crime since the beginning of the year.

I can already tell what you're thinking: c'mon, MacMillan, we're having iPods for breakfast again ?! I'm afraid so. I hoped to write about something different today, but when Apple's diminutive music players -- or rather, their theft -- can bring Gotham City to its knees, we feel obliged to bring you the details.

The problem has gotten serious enough that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority held a news conference to announce that theft of the $99-to-$450 devices is quite literally out of hand.

The number of major felonies -- a category that encompasses murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, grand larceny and auto theft -- committed on the subway during the first three months of 2005 rose 18.3 percent over the same period last year, but if officials excluded iPod and cell-phone theft, the rate of serious crime would have fallen 3 percent, said Michael J. Farrell, the MTA's deputy commissioner for strategic initiatives, according to the New York Times . The real numbers are a little smaller -- 50 iPods and 165 cell phones stolen compared to zero and 82 in 2004 -- but it's enough evidence for the MTA to consider it time to start a public-relations campaign warning people to guard their digital devices.

Newsday reported that "beginning in May, the MTA will hang advisories on subways, with one warning: 'Earphones are a giveaway. Protect your device.' In fact, some owners of iPods have replaced the telltale white earphones with other headsets, to avoid unwanted attention."

MTA officials did not recommend that people curtail their iPod use on the subway, though they noted that blotting out one of your equally important five senses can make it difficult to avoid situations such as, say, getting mugged and beaten. Instead, the New York Post quoted transit chief Michael Scagnelli as saying authorities would take more care to find criminals in the system: "If you're a bad guy, watch out. The gentleman or lady next to you might be a cop."

Subway riders waxed philosophical when not putting safety first:

So what's behind the high rate of theft? If you thought there was a profitable black market for stolen iPods, you'd be wrong. It's not that the average podsnatcher who rolled you on Nostrand Avenue is more desperate than a junkie for your Bebel Gilberto-Uncle Tupelo-Ministry mashup. The relatively steep price, the Associated Press reported , is enough of an incentive for crooks to keep them instead of selling them. Henry Jenkins, director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, cast this argument through the Jean Valjean lens in an interview with the Times: "The participation gap creates techno-envy, where the kids who are locked out of participation in the culture covet those tools and devices that are considered essential to being a young person."

Techno-envy: When the time is right, will you be ready? Actually, this is a chronic problem that puts the iPod into the long line of must-have items that have spawned spikes in theft throughout the years. The list includes electronics devices such as boom boxes, but it also centers around any portable status symbol: Air Jordans, gold chains, brand-name clothing, leather jackets, you name it.

But what happens next? Will some tiny-but-irresistible slab of technology sitting on a laboratory table and bearing a serial number instead of a name be tomorrow's must-purloin item? Or will iPods stick around, dropping in price until every desperate crook gets his or her opportunity to drown out the world thanks to the soothing strains of whatever it is that they listen to?

While we ponder that problem, it's also worth noting some of the other news coverage. The Boston Herald reported that the city's transportation officials created a special class of crime for electronic-device theft: "The iPods are a hot item," said one police officer. "That's where the highest number of complaints are coming from."

Meanwhile, take a look at any police blotter or local paper nowadays, and you can track the meteoric rise in the iPod's popularity by how often it shows up:

And finally, here's an excerpt from a bizarre but interesting column in the Northerner , the independent student paper of Northern Kentucky University: "[People] spoke of the deep depression that accompanied their loss and the difficulty of moving on. I had to remind myself that the iPod was an inanimate object. They spoke in such eloquent and reverend terms that I was truly moved. I had to go hug my own iPod and just hold it. ... These thieves are breaking the window to your soul, shattering it for the world to view, leaving behind nothing but the naked soul. These soulless mercenaries must be stopped."

from the New York times

April 28, 2005

Combating Gadget Theft

s 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.

"I wouldn't even know where to start," he said. "It would be encouraging for me if I saw a large percentage of items returned to those who report it."

Indeed, only 6.7 percent of owners recovered their stolen hand-held computers, laptops or smart phones (cellphone organizers that are often connected to the Internet), according to a 2004 study by Brigadoon Software, which makes programs that help track and recover stolen devices. F.B.I. statistics indicate that only 3 percent of stolen laptops are recovered.

Homeowners and renters' insurance usually covers these items, but the deductibles - typically $500 to $1,000, according to the Insurance Information Institute - are generally more than the cost of the gadgets, except for computers.

There is also Safeware (www.safeware.com), a company offering theft and damage insurance for computers and smaller gadgets. In New York, a $2,000 laptop can be insured for $64 a year and a music player for as little as $52, both with no deductible.

A good option for cellphones and smart phones is coverage from the carriers, for about $5 a month on top of the service fee. Customers without insurance who need new phones are often surprised at what they cost. To sell service contracts, carriers offer phones at a sizable discount, but replacing them can cost hundreds of dollars.

Stolen items move quickly, with the help of the Internet. Property can be sold in online auctions or bazaars through unmonitored transactions. Stolen computers can fetch as much as $800, said Terrance Kawles, president of Brigadoon, and used iPods may be listed for upward of $200, with notations that they "must sell today" and for "cash only." Cellphones are sold for as little as $35 "unlocked," meaning they can be programmed with a new number and carrier.

Gideon Yago, 27, a writer and correspondent for MTV News, came home recently to discover that his locks had been broken and that a burglar had been in his apartment. He lost a G4 titanium PowerBook, an iPod, a mini DV camera and an external hard drive, in addition to jewelry and other items, worth about $10,000 altogether.

"The detective told me it's easier to solve a homicide than a burglary," he said, adding, "I'd give a nickel to anyone who could invent a LoJack system for computers," a reference to an automobile security device - a transmitter that can be activated by police to guide them to a stolen car.

It will cost more than a nickel, but such programs do exist. And Mr. Yago is not the only victim of theft who is not aware of them. Called track-and-recover software, the technology assumes that the stolen machine will eventually be hooked up to the Internet, and once online it is programmed to send a signal indicating its Internet Protocol address. That may allow the thief to be traced through an Internet service provider.

"If you have our software on your computer you have over a 90 percent chance of getting it back," said Mr. Kawles of Brigadoon (www.pcphonehome.com), which makes track-and-recover programs for computers called PC PhoneHome and MacPhoneHome.

According to the Computer Security Institute and the annual Computer Crime and Security Survey conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, laptop theft losses increased to more than $6.7 million in 2004. The survey looks at corporations, which are hit the hardest by computer device theft.

"It's hell to call your customers and tell them their personal information has been compromised," said Nick Magliato, chief executive of Trust Digital, a company selling mobile security software to corporations.

Trust Digital and similar companies produce software that protects information on laptops and devices like smart phones by either encrypting the data, locking the device or remotely wiping out everything on it. For companies whose employees carry sensitive digital information, the gadget itself is relatively disposable. It is the information that needs protection.

If a gadget is lost, or stolen and then discarded, services exist to help find the owner should a good Samaritan come upon it and seek to return it. Companies like StuffBak, Trackitback and SmartProtec register the electronic items and tag them with labels and serial numbers to help people return them and to deter thieves, who might think that indelibly labeled items will be hard to resell. These services vary in the reward offered and the costs to the owner.

Caution, of course, can be the best protection against theft. At the University of Rochester, Walter Mauldin, director of security services, noted that after an uptick in robberies in 2003, people became more attentive to their belongings. In 2004, the total number of campus thefts decreased.

"People are aware that taking care of these items means more than doing it occasionally," he said. "Like taking care of a baby, it's got to be a regular thing."

But many owners of portable gadgets feel that much of their appeal is taking them everywhere, with little thought.

"I'm definitely more careful now than I used to be, but basically I throw it all in my bag and don't worry about it," said Casey Brennan, 26, a freelance writer in New York whose MP3 player and cellphone were taken along with the other contents of an unwatched handbag. Ms. Brennan, who calls herself an electronics fanatic, routinely carries around a Sidekick smart phone, her second iPod, a digital voice recorder, a cellphone and a G4 iBook laptop.

The risk of theft, she said, is "the price I pay to need to have all these tiny little gadgets."