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"The thief has since returned the laptop, in hopes of clemency in the form of the YouTube video being pulled. Bao has indicated, though, that he's not intereste

"The thief has since returned the laptop, in hopes of clemency in the form of the YouTube video being pulled. Bao has indicated, though, that he's not interested in cutting a deal. Instead, he's content using backup service Backblaze—which syncs changes made to the laptop in the cloud—to find access the guy's Facebook page, dig up PhotoBooth pictures he took, and generally let him stew in his internet humiliation for a while." - http://gizmodo.com/#!5784633/laptop-thiefs-ridiculous-dance-video-posted-by-tech+savvy-victim http://gizmodo.com/#!5784633/laptop-thiefs-ridiculous-dance-... Now he's just turned it into a plug for his startup. Smart guy.

citricsquid 16y ago
Mark has no connections to Backblaze does he?
- markbao 16y ago
  No, no. I just used the service to find out who it was. And inadvertently sent Backblaze a lot of good press.
  - biggitybones 16y ago
    Ahh sorry about that - strong coffee this morning has my mind on overdrive and completely read that quote incorrectly.
ugh 16y ago
Doing that would be very much illegal in Germany. Isn’t it in the US?
- grav1tas 16y ago
  Which part? I don't think he actually logged in under the guy's Facebook account?
  - tyhjmhytgfv 16y ago
    Video recording somebody in the privacy of their home and broadcasting it without their permission or knowledge.
    - masklinn 16y ago
      As far as I can tell the guy recorded himself and the data was automatically uploaded from Mark's stolen laptop to his online backup, though Mark is indeed guilty of broadcasting it.
      - scotty79 16y ago
        So generally you can plant a hidden camera operated remotely in some attractive item, like a laptop (hey! there's already one!), wait for the victim to take the bait ("steal" your laptop) and after that you can record whatever you wish without anyone pressing against you any wiretapping charges? Even camera don't have to be started remotely. Hey, my camera is always rolling and sending stream to remote server. That's my laptop and that's how I'm using it.
        chris_j 16y ago
        That's not what happened in this case, of course. The laptop thief used the stolen laptop to film himself but was unaware that the video could be viewed by the laptop's owner. I'm having trouble coming up with an analogy for that one.
        scotty79 16y ago
        I wasn't drawing any analogy. I just wondered if this kind of invigilation is legal. I know thief started the camera and I'm not acusing Mark of planting laptop or wiretapping. I'm just curious if it's legal to spy on people using the scenario I described.
        masklinn 16y ago
        Erm... You might have missed the part where the perp recorded himself. There was no remote activation, there was no spying, there was no nothing. The perp recorded himself, and two month later as Mark was checking his backups he realized the stolen machine was still backuping itself.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- fbailey 16y ago
  difficult question the guy is practically storing his data on Mark`s harddisk- I'm not actually sure that it would be illegal here in Germany to publish the stuff.
  - ugh 16y ago
    That’s irrelevant. The thief might well not be able to force the victim to delete all the things he stored on the victim’s drive but publishing it is something completely different. Just as an example, if you take a photo of me with your camera and I explicitly tell you to not publish the photo you are not allowed to [0], even if the photo is stored on your own drive. I can’t force you to delete the photo, you are free to keep it and show it to your friends but you are definitely not allowed to publish it. [0] There are certain narrow exceptions in the respective German law but they don’t apply in this case.
    - mileszs 16y ago
      This is not the case in the US. See: Paparazzi pictures of just about any celebrity ever.
      - ams6110 16y ago
        There is a different standard for celebrities in the US, probably everywhere.
        lancewiggs 16y ago
        Yes - they fall under "public figure" clauses, and lose a lot of their right to privacy.
    - yellowbkpk 16y ago
      You're telling me that if you take my camera out of my back pocket while I'm not looking, take a picture of yourself with it, then give it back to me, I am not allowed to publish that picture? Under what law would you sue? In the US you may have a claim under a libel law or similar, but it would be hard to convince a jury or judge that I was libeling you with a picture you took with stolen property.
- scott_s 16y ago
  Even if it was by the letter of the law, it wouldn't be by the application of the law. What's on the books is not what matters in practice. You need a prosecutor willing to press charges. Considering the circumstances, I doubt a prosecutor would press charges. Of course, the thief could always sue, but even that's a hard sell.
  - ugh 16y ago
    Why would the thief suing be a hard sell? If it’s really becoming a problem for him paying a lawyer some money to file the necessary paperwork would be no problem.
    - scott_s 16y ago
      It would be a hard sell to a judge or jury. A prospective lawyer will know this, and may not want to sink time (and/or money) into it. You can sue someone for just about anything, but that doesn't mean you'll win.
      - ugh 16y ago
        But why? That would never be the case in Germany. A personality rights violation is a personality rights violation. A thief doesn’t lose those rights just because he is a thief. I cannot for the life of me imagine that the US judiciary is that unprofessional.
        scott_s 16y ago
        First, I don't think there was any violation of this person's rights by US law. Second, judges and juries are people, not automatons that blindly apply law. Considering the circumstances, I have a hard time believing a judge or a jury would think that the thief deserves a monetary reward.
        ugh 16y ago
        Nah, not a monetary reward, just getting the video taken down. I don’t think the thief would get some sort of monetary reward in Germany, either.
- rmc 16y ago
  It's definitly illegal in Germany and the USA to steal a laptop. If the thief presses privacy charges, the police will probably press theft charges.

citricsquid 16y ago

Mark has no connections to Backblaze does he?

markbao 16y ago
No, no. I just used the service to find out who it was. And inadvertently sent Backblaze a lot of good press.
- biggitybones 16y ago
  Ahh sorry about that - strong coffee this morning has my mind on overdrive and completely read that quote incorrectly.

ugh 16y ago

Doing that would be very much illegal in Germany. Isn’t it in the US?

grav1tas 16y ago
Which part? I don't think he actually logged in under the guy's Facebook account?
- tyhjmhytgfv 16y ago
  Video recording somebody in the privacy of their home and broadcasting it without their permission or knowledge.
  - masklinn 16y ago
    As far as I can tell the guy recorded himself and the data was automatically uploaded from Mark's stolen laptop to his online backup, though Mark is indeed guilty of broadcasting it.
    - scotty79 16y ago
      So generally you can plant a hidden camera operated remotely in some attractive item, like a laptop (hey! there's already one!), wait for the victim to take the bait ("steal" your laptop) and after that you can record whatever you wish without anyone pressing against you any wiretapping charges? Even camera don't have to be started remotely. Hey, my camera is always rolling and sending stream to remote server. That's my laptop and that's how I'm using it.
      - chris_j 16y ago
        That's not what happened in this case, of course. The laptop thief used the stolen laptop to film himself but was unaware that the video could be viewed by the laptop's owner. I'm having trouble coming up with an analogy for that one.
        scotty79 16y ago
        I wasn't drawing any analogy. I just wondered if this kind of invigilation is legal. I know thief started the camera and I'm not acusing Mark of planting laptop or wiretapping. I'm just curious if it's legal to spy on people using the scenario I described.
      - masklinn 16y ago
        Erm... You might have missed the part where the perp recorded himself. There was no remote activation, there was no spying, there was no nothing. The perp recorded himself, and two month later as Mark was checking his backups he realized the stolen machine was still backuping itself.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
fbailey 16y ago
difficult question the guy is practically storing his data on Mark`s harddisk- I'm not actually sure that it would be illegal here in Germany to publish the stuff.
- ugh 16y ago
  That’s irrelevant. The thief might well not be able to force the victim to delete all the things he stored on the victim’s drive but publishing it is something completely different. Just as an example, if you take a photo of me with your camera and I explicitly tell you to not publish the photo you are not allowed to [0], even if the photo is stored on your own drive. I can’t force you to delete the photo, you are free to keep it and show it to your friends but you are definitely not allowed to publish it. [0] There are certain narrow exceptions in the respective German law but they don’t apply in this case.
  - mileszs 16y ago
    This is not the case in the US. See: Paparazzi pictures of just about any celebrity ever.
    - ams6110 16y ago
      There is a different standard for celebrities in the US, probably everywhere.
      - lancewiggs 16y ago
        Yes - they fall under "public figure" clauses, and lose a lot of their right to privacy.
  - yellowbkpk 16y ago
    You're telling me that if you take my camera out of my back pocket while I'm not looking, take a picture of yourself with it, then give it back to me, I am not allowed to publish that picture? Under what law would you sue? In the US you may have a claim under a libel law or similar, but it would be hard to convince a jury or judge that I was libeling you with a picture you took with stolen property.
scott_s 16y ago
Even if it was by the letter of the law, it wouldn't be by the application of the law. What's on the books is not what matters in practice. You need a prosecutor willing to press charges. Considering the circumstances, I doubt a prosecutor would press charges. Of course, the thief could always sue, but even that's a hard sell.
- ugh 16y ago
  Why would the thief suing be a hard sell? If it’s really becoming a problem for him paying a lawyer some money to file the necessary paperwork would be no problem.
  - scott_s 16y ago
    It would be a hard sell to a judge or jury. A prospective lawyer will know this, and may not want to sink time (and/or money) into it. You can sue someone for just about anything, but that doesn't mean you'll win.
    - ugh 16y ago
      But why? That would never be the case in Germany. A personality rights violation is a personality rights violation. A thief doesn’t lose those rights just because he is a thief. I cannot for the life of me imagine that the US judiciary is that unprofessional.
      - scott_s 16y ago
        First, I don't think there was any violation of this person's rights by US law. Second, judges and juries are people, not automatons that blindly apply law. Considering the circumstances, I have a hard time believing a judge or a jury would think that the thief deserves a monetary reward.
        ugh 16y ago
        Nah, not a monetary reward, just getting the video taken down. I don’t think the thief would get some sort of monetary reward in Germany, either.
rmc 16y ago
It's definitly illegal in Germany and the USA to steal a laptop. If the thief presses privacy charges, the police will probably press theft charges.