Don't steal a <span class="highlight">GPS</span>!
Submitted: Thursday, Jan 25, 2007 at 18:25
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Shaker
I know it's not Friday, but I just read this & had to share it! .........................
THIEVES who stole global positioning systems (
GPS) from a warehouse in New
York state were apprehended after authorities activated the tracking devices to locate them.
Fourteen
GPS were stolen last week from a warehouse in Babylon, New
York. The town had planned to use them to track its municipal fleet of vehicles.
Police and municipal staff said they remotely activated the devices and were led to the
home of one of the culprits who was found fiddling with one of them.
"The
GPS device is quite beneficial when we are looking for something. Within 48 hours we had the individuals under arrest," said Inspector Robert Casagne of the Suffolk County detachment.
The thieves had snagged cell phones and planned to sell them, he said.
Three people face charges.
Reply By: 4wdNewbie - Thursday, Jan 25, 2007 at 19:26
Thursday, Jan 25, 2007 at 19:26
Haha. That'l learn em. You gotta 'fink before you flog...
AnswerID:
217806
Reply By: Member - Jack - Thursday, Jan 25, 2007 at 19:41
Thursday, Jan 25, 2007 at 19:41
This post may help Willie (post 41613) locate his.
Jack
AnswerID:
217808
Reply By: djrziggy - Thursday, Jan 25, 2007 at 23:41
Thursday, Jan 25, 2007 at 23:41
What about the
tools who stole a beamer to use in a robbery they programmed the
gps to take them
home then dumped the car.
police followed
gps to
home, arrested thieves, returned car, job done,
Darren
AnswerID:
217853
Reply By: Member - John R (NSW) - Friday, Jan 26, 2007 at 09:32
Friday, Jan 26, 2007 at 09:32
They must have been tracking devices, as opposed to the regular navigation devices.
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217876
Reply By: Gerhardp1 - Friday, Jan 26, 2007 at 10:06
Friday, Jan 26, 2007 at 10:06
Just thinking aloud here, but in the computer networking world, every network card has a unique number called the MAC address. Part of the number identifies the manufacturer and the rest is in effect a serial number. (There are occasions where the address may occur twice, as in some routers that are used to emulate another device, but this is probably not widespread)
It would be easily possible for each
GPS made to have a similar unique number as the MAC address which could be transmitted between it and the satellites, thereby making every
GPS also a trackable one.
Just had a look inside the Meridian - it has a model name - meridian color usa, P/N 800482-01, S/N:chxxxxxxand d/c 3603. There is more than enough to uniquely id this device when it's locked to the satellites and I reckon the US military would be able to track it if the needed to. There may also be another number or combination of these numbers in the firmware of the device which could not be changed easily, in case a different sticker was placed on the unit.
Come to think of it, mobile phones are able to be tracked this way.
AnswerID:
217884
Follow Up By: nickoff - Friday, Jan 26, 2007 at 13:04
Friday, Jan 26, 2007 at 13:04
The only problem with this type of thinking is that most, if not all
GPS recievers are just that, recievers. They do not transmit any signal at all, let alone to the
GPS satalites. As to the US military tracking them, the could, if they were close enough to the
GPS reciever, track it by its RF noise output, if they were within about 1metre of the unit, then the wouldn't have to track it, as they could see it!
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Follow Up By: Gerhardp1 - Friday, Jan 26, 2007 at 13:58
Friday, Jan 26, 2007 at 13:58
The problem with trying to type what you are thinking is that one outpaces the other in speed buy several orders of magnitude!
Obviously the US military can't track it if it isn't broadcasting, so I guess to extend the thinking, all civilian
GPS units should have been designed to transmit their ID, thus in effect logging in without password. There must be some kind of standard for
GPS ??
Then the US could have blocked
GPS use in such
places as they desired, such as Afghanistan.
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478319