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posted by
martyb
on Saturday August 15 2015, @08:02PM
from the rats-got-bored-running-through-mazes dept.
from the rats-got-bored-running-through-mazes dept.
The Buffalo News Police Blotter reports that a pair of thieves stole Xbox wireless controllers and police tracked them down by contacting the manufacturer. Maybe this is standard operating procedure for the cops, but it was new to this submitter. Any idea of the mechanism(s) involved?
No explicit mention of Microsoft — perhaps these controllers were made by a third party to work with Xbox.
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Please, don't drink and derive.
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Deriving
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 15 2015, @08:33PM
~$50 per controller? Sounds like genuine Microsoft® Xbox.
Anonymous Coward must live in New York because I don't see this story in the tech press..
http://wivb.com/2015/08/13/high-tech-investigation-leads-police-to-arrest-alleged-walmart-thieves/ [wivb.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Saturday August 15 2015, @09:02PM
what's surprising about this?
walmart tracks the serial numbers of the devices, likely via an rfid sticker in the box [likely put there by MS and linked to the controllers unique serial number] and the XBox reports the serial numbers of itself and all connected controllers to Microsoft, and it's all associated to an xbox account with user name and possibly address and credit card info.
It probably would have been made slightly more difficult if they didn't have a credit card/address for the account, and had to to a lookup of the physical address from the ip-address.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday August 15 2015, @08:46PM
Seems that even if the controllers did phone home, the average detective wouldn't know this, nor would they have all the serial numbers to pick the phoneing-home units out of the deluge of phoning home controllers. The manufacturer wouldn't have much to gain from the phoning home either.
Seems like this is a cover story, to recreate a trail to these thieves from data sources they don't want to admit.
I wonder if that town has any equipment on loan from the feds. It wouldn't be the first time [washingtonpost.com].
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @08:54PM
> Seems like this is a cover story, to recreate a trail to these thieves from data sources they don't want to admit.
Come on.
We aren't at the point of deploying parallel construction of NSA finking for $200 shoplifting cases. That's not even a felony.
Here's a scenario that is 1000x more likely:
Parking lot camera caught the license plate of the thieves.
Boxes discarded in the parking lot included serial numbers.
Microsoft told the police department how to determine serial number of the actual controllers (pair it into an xbox, go to equivalent of advanced options screen, check serial number field).
(Score: 2) by frojack on Sunday August 16 2015, @12:30AM
We aren't at the point of deploying parallel construction of NSA finking for $200 shoplifting cases. That's not even a felony.
Who said anything about NSA.
What about stingrays, license plate readers, a snitch or police plant within the gang.
All of those assets need to be protected, and a made up story that implies the controllers phone home serves that purpose, and also serves to deter future heists.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 16 2015, @02:10AM
Gang. LOL
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @08:50PM
With less than $4k involved, I'm surprised the cops did anything more than say "That's too bad. You should contact your insurance company".
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Sunday August 16 2015, @12:39AM
I'd rather have them track this down than being highwaymen.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 16 2015, @03:25AM
Amen.
Mind you, I'm not complaining that they're actually doing legit law enforcement for a change.
I am surprised by that turn of events.
Fat goof-off cops is a meme so common that it gets put into lyrics. [google.com]
-- gewg_
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tibman on Saturday August 15 2015, @09:06PM
Microsoft surely performs a hardware survey and must be collecting serial numbers. If the empty boxes left at Walmart also had the serial printed on them then there would be a way to track them down. The thieves must have registered their xbox or had an online subscription via credit card in order to connect the xbox with an address. Though i suppose if MS just provided an IP address to the xbox the police could have talked with the ISP to also get the physical address.
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(Score: 2) by captain normal on Saturday August 15 2015, @10:05PM
They use French in NW New York! Who knew?
As for being tracked by the controllers, I'm not a bit surprised. The X-Box runs with DRM, so why not licence rights for devices connected to it. Also the police must be bored in Lockport, going to all that trouble to track down a couple of petty thieves.
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 16 2015, @01:08AM
Cops around the nation have been known to fail to act, even when stolen laptops have tracking software installed. So, they went the extra mile, in this case? Why?
http://beyondclause8.com/home/the-cops-can-get-your-stolen-ipad-back-but-they-wont/ [beyondclause8.com]
Just one of many hits on the search term "stolen laptop tracking cops won't act"
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Sunday August 16 2015, @01:48AM
If you read the article, the comtrollers were stolen from Walmart and they left the boxes behind. The store had security footage of them.
It is an easy slam dunk for the cops weekly arrest quota. Also, it was a big business they stole from, not a private citizen.
No problem is insoluble, but at Ksp = 2.943×10−25 Mercury Sulphide comes close.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 16 2015, @01:59AM
So - all men are created equal, but some are more equal than others, right? Wal-Mart gets this kind of service, but a private citizen does not.
A slam dunk is a slam dunk. If John Q. Citizen reports a stolen electronic device, supplies the serial number, proof of ownership, and the tracking logs, then the cops have a slam dunk just as surely as they had in this case. But, most often, they will not act on John Q's information.
Again - why?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 16 2015, @02:12AM
> So - all men are created equal, but some are more equal than others, right?
> Wal-Mart gets this kind of service, but a private citizen does not.
You are 59 years old and you are just figuring this out now?
Money talks.
Any private citizen who pays tens of thousands in property taxes each year can expect the same level of government service.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Sunday August 16 2015, @02:19AM
A slam dunk is a slam dunk. If John Q. Citizen reports a stolen electronic device, supplies the serial number, proof of ownership, and the tracking logs, then the cops have a slam dunk just as surely as they had in this case. But, most often, they will not act on John Q's information.
That is not a slam dunk. Ask a cop. Any thief is just going to say he found it laying on the street or bought it at a flea market or something.
The "real" thief must have dropped it or sold it. Reasonable doubt is all they need.
And yes, Walmart gets this kind of service and us peasants don't.
No problem is insoluble, but at Ksp = 2.943×10−25 Mercury Sulphide comes close.
(Score: 1) by cnst on Sunday August 16 2015, @04:55AM
I've had an uncommon Garmin GPS device with a GSM/EDGE 2G radio on AT&T network, with an active subscription, and I was trying to make a police department in Sacramento (California) try to locate it, absolutely fruitless.
Tried calling Garmin, AT&T and the local Sacramento PD, and they all were completely uninterested, even though a whole 10k$+ newish car was missing together with the device!
I have decided to never ever buy another Garmin device ever again, such a bunch of jerks. The thing not only had GSM/EDGE radio on AT&T, but it would also use it to fetch local weather; I bet by checking their access logs alone they could easily tell me or the police department with the location of the thing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 16 2015, @05:38AM
> I bet by checking their access logs alone they could easily tell me or the police department with the location of the thing.
That's reason enough not to buy one. I use a stand-alone GPS unit specifically because I don't want it phoning home and reporting my location.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Sunday August 16 2015, @08:56AM
As others have pointed out there is something here that just does not sit right.
We have multiple occasions where US$1000+ laptops, cars equipped with non Lojack GPS trackers and mobile phones that can all be tracked and the location of the item placed to within 5 feet. Easy tags for the police, and in the cases of a stolen car there is likely to be other stolen vehicles at the same location (I remember hearing about a case where a Lojack equipped car was recovered along with 5 other high value cars and they busted a car theft ring to boot)
And in each of those cases the police do NOTHING. You get the advice to call your insurance company and file a claim. That is it. No follow up. File closed. End of investigation. Period.
$100s worth of DVDs, video games, mp3 players, booze, etc., get stolen all the time. Often the store doesn't even bother to report it to the police, even if they have video, since the police don't bother to show up unless they have the shop lifter in custody.
And now there is this case.
Some X-Box controllers get stolen, retail value ~US$219. The STATE police not only show up at the store but they contact the manufacture to ask for help to determine the controllers internal serial numbers, the ones that the X-Box will identify them by.
Then they must have also had the co-operation of Microsoft since MS controls the X-BoxLive network. So Microsoft had somebody look through the server logs to find out what X-Box the controllers had been linked to. And after they had that info they checked the X-BoxLive account records to get the home address for that account which they then provided to the police who then secured a warrant (I hope) to search the address.
That is a Hell of a lot to do over $219 dollars worth of commodity grade electronics.
I've got a feeling there is way more to this than we are hearing right now. I hope someone follows up on this.
And this doesn't even begin to address the privacy issues involved. They can track the individual controllers over the Internet? What the Fuck is that all about?
Makes me very glad I decided to pass on the X-BoxOne. My 360 never gets connected to the internet since I don't have a X-BoxLive account and all my games are stand alone.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Nollij on Sunday August 16 2015, @02:55PM
One of Lojack's big selling points: They know how to work "the system". They know what data to provide the cops, judges, etc. They know WHICH cops, etc to speak with to get results. Presumably, Walmart has the same people on staff.
There's probably more involved here than was in TFA, but I blame sloppy, local journalists. Just a few possibilities:
1) This might not have been the only evidence. Lots of cameras at Walmart, the evidence might've just been the nail in the coffin
2) Perhaps Walmart's been in contact with MS to reduce theft, and were told this was an option
3) The police could have had a personal stake in this case, motivating them to go the extra mile.
4) The article might be completely wrong, and they completely screwed the pooch. Wouldn't be the first time it's happened.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Sunday August 16 2015, @07:56PM
All valid points. There is a lot of information about this that we don't have. Hence my hope that someone will follow up and find out why this incident doesn't fit with past situations.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."