The tortoise took in a stolen G4

[tortoise]

Thought you guys might enjoy the controversy I stirred up over at DealMac, my original post and link to the thread below. Most agree I did the right thing, but a small minority think differently. No matter I know my own conscience and I sleep fine at night.  

Never a dull moment in this business; established PC client I have done work for in the past and I am currently replacing a failed HD in his CompaQ Laptop. Meanwhile he brings me a G4 titanium that he says his wife purchased at a DEA auction and he is locked out because of the password on the OS-X side will not let him in.  Wants me to get in and wipe it clean and do a fresh install of everything. So I get inside and find the information on the previous owner, some nice Buddhist activist mother of two that hardly looks to be a drug dealer type. Just on a hunch I call her and she tells me it was stolen about six weeks ago and she would love to get it back, and if that is not possible at least recover her data from the machine before I wipe it. Told her to call her local Police and I did the same, waiting for an officer to arrive as I write this.  Should be very interesting to see the outcome, at best I will see them both end up happy (presuming his story of the DEA auction is true), otherwise I will end up with one very happy owner and one very unhappy client

http://forums.dealmac.com/read.html?f=1&i=...80930&t=1280930

[CyberPet]

Of course you did the right thing!!!!!  

[george]

Tortoise, you sure acted correctly..................don't forget to bring us the final chapter!
George.
   

[pendragon]

"Our span of life is brief, but is long enough for us to live well and honestly." --Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)

Thanks Tortoise!

Harv

[Mayo]

Kudos to Terrapin!  If only everybody was as honest...

A similar post at Maccnn showed a different side of humanity.  Without going into all the details in what appears to be a similar situation, the Macnn writer stated in his post that "I'm not a terribly ethical person..."

That statement has bothered me ever since I read it.  Who would make such a statement publicly and how can a person see themselves that way and apparently not care?  Respondents at Macnn were not very concerned that the Mac was probably stolen. (And purchased on eBay if memory serves...)

Which is a good example of the different vibes of Macnn and TS, IMNSHO.

Which leads me to a related topic, which is security on OS X.  I use DiskLock with OS 9 and one reason that I haven't tried using X more is that DiskLock is incompatible with X.  The app cannot even be used on a partitioned disk if X is installed on another volume.  If I can find a way to securely lock my drives and encrypt files in X then I would be much more inclined to give it a go.

Otherwise, when my volumes are protected in DiskLock the startup splash screen shows my name, phone number and a message to ask for identification if the Mac is being serviced, etc.  Without the password it isn't possible to get beyond the splash screen message.  It is also my understanding that it isn't possible to get around the protection by booting with a system CD or any other method short of removing the protected drive.

[Highmac]

Agreed - of course you did right.... and it took an element of courage to risk upsetting a client to do the right thing. You have every right to sleep soundly.

Just noticed - this is post No 700. Still got an awful long way to go to catch up with many of you, though.  

[giantmike]

Just reinforces my thought of gettign a sturdy cable to lock down my new G5 in the dorm. We had enough thefts last year at the school, I was ready to put an alarm on the door. In fact, our door was rattled a few times at night (my roomie stays up until 4 or 5 in the morning, so hecaught the kid in the act), and my neighbor across the hall had a wireless router stolen while he was sleeping in his room. At that time, I bought a cable to lock up the iBook, but I'll need an even better one for the G5.

[RobW]

I can't say it any better than the others here--You did the right thing--and a good thing!

[Bernie]

Bravo and    are for the bad guys.

[jepinto]

I knew I admired you for far more than that tie!

[Gary S]

You did the right thing.

[Paddy]

Tortoise - you did exactly what I probably would have done. I read that whole DealMac thread - can't believe a few of the posters who seem to be so much more interested in protecting themselves than in what is right! And that story about the DEA certainly didn't ring true when the rightful owner said that the PB was stolen only 6 weeks ago! While things may be seized immediately upon arrest, actual FORFEITURE isn't a simple thing, and generally doesn't happen unless there has been a conviction. Know of any drug cases that proceeded from arrest to conviction in 6 weeks? Not in this country!

The statutes pertaining to criminal forfeiture can be found here:
http://www.dea.gov/pubs/csa/853.htm#h

Before forfeited property is disposed of, there is supposed to be an attempt to make sure that there is no other "third party interest" - which one would hope would not have been an overwhelming task in this particular case, given that the rightful owner had reported the PB stolen AND it was clear that the defendant (fictional in this case, I'm sure) was not the rightful owner. In addition, there are certain legal requirements to give notice of disposition of forfeited property - again, this doesn't happen overnight.

Fishy, fishy, fishy...I'm now dying to know what the client told the cops!

[RHPConsult]

I count The Tortoise as a friend and it doesn't suprise me in the least that he "did the right thing!" Congratulations.  

Even more useful was to post it . . . there being so few places these days . . . movies, books, media, so-called "music" etc. etc. where the "right thing" is celebrated.

Reading these days of the courage of the US military, firefighters and cops are reassuring exceptions to much of the dreck that seems to generate so much attention whereever one looks.

End of The Olde Man's Rant (for today)

PS: Maybe, someday, Jennie will tell the story of The Tie, a TS Historical Landmark!

 

[beacher]

"Good on you", Tortoise.  Having stuff stolen is about as close as a guy can come to feeling like a rape victim, but at least most of us (guys) will get over it, eventually.

Paddy, you're dead wrong about the confiscation thing. . .Your stuff can be confiscated and you have to SUE the police to get it back, often times costing more than it's worth, which is why the police absolutely LOVE the confiscation laws.  Most people will just abandon their property, rather than deal with the expense and hassle.  I have 2 close friends that are cops, and one of them is always driving some fancy car that they've grabbed.  And then they get to sell them, and the police departments get to keep the proceeds of the auction!  Whatever happened to guilty until proven innocent?

[jepinto]

QUOTE(beacher @ Jul 23 2003, 1:38 AM)

Your stuff can be confiscated and you have to SUE the police to get it back, often times costing more than it's worth, which is why the police absolutely LOVE the confiscation laws.  Most people will just abandon their property, rather than deal with the expense and hassle. .....and the police departments get to keep the proceeds of the auction!  Whatever happened to guilty until proven innocent?

 And if one owns land the county sherriff wants to have for a youth camp (with his name on the gate, imagine that!), you'd be surprised at how quickly a reverse sting can be set up.  And how even talking about another parcel owned during a conversation can cause that second parcel to be confiscated.

Or local law enforcement asking for radar guns and the justification is "it'll pay for itself the first month", or $90 tickets for "rolling through" a stop sign, at 1:30 a.m., no other cars on the road, at a stop sign that sits 20 feet back from the road one must turn onto?  Or $95 speeding tickets handed out, conveniently, right where the speed limit drops from 45 to 35 designated only by one sign, which, oh SUPRISE is obscured by a utility pole?

Don't get me started!  Our laws are now enforced for monetary gain.  Who's guarding the hen house when the agency charged with enforcing the rules derives monetary gain from said enforcement?