Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!iuvax!bsu-cs!mithomas
From: mithomas@bsu-cs.UUCP (Michael Thomas Niehaus)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Creating a list of hot items...
Message-ID: <4843@bsu-cs.UUCP>
Date: 22 Nov 88 03:02:04 GMT
Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, Indiana
Lines: 45

Just a thought...

Recently we have had a rash of thefts on our campus.  In the last 4 weeks, there
have been 12 Macintoshes stolen, all Mac Pluses and Mac SEs (they couldn't get
to the Mac IIs), as well as five MS-DOS compatibles (no true IBM machines, only
AT&T 6300s and Zenith 159s), a couple of Epson LQ-800 printers, and a brand new
Apple LaserWriter IINT (the last startup page said that there were 120 pages 
printed).

Since it would be impossible to unload that much equipment in this area, we
believe that they will be trying to get rid of it somewhere else.  (If anyone
offers to sell you an almost brand new laser printer, be suspicious.)  The only
thing that we could see would be to publish a list of serial numbers of the
stolen items, and distribute it throughout the country (by electronic means, at
least).  What better way than to use the Usenet/BITNET/ARPA/AppleLink/etc.
networks.

Would it be feasible for one site to become a tracking center that could record
serial numbers of stolen machines?  If this were to happen, then any
organization could just send a message to that site to see if the used equipment
that they just bought was clean.  This lessens the burden on everyone, since
one site would keep all of the information.

I would assume that such thefts are widespread, and somewhere, sometime, these
machines will be sold.  The odds of finding a stolen item probably aren't that
good, but maybe it's worth a try.

In my experience, university police agencies have not been very successful in
solving this type of crime (sometimes I wonder if they even try).  Maybe just
the embarrasment of publishing the location of the thefts would be enough to
encourage better investigation and PREVENTION, as well as bringing the issue
of physical (not just electronic) security into the open.

If anyone has any comments, suggestions, etc., please send them to me.  I'll
look forward to hearing from some.

Thanks for your time,

Michael Niehaus
Ball State University
Lab Management Office/Computer Competency Program
Muncie, IN 47306

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