Having suffered the trauma of having my entire camera kit stolen on Monday evening, I have discovered a great site that I believe we should all be helping build for the possibility that one day you too could be in this position.
The site allows you to link the serial number of your camera (stripped from the EXIF data of any picture you upload) to your email address. The promise is that if photos start appearing online with the same serial number you will be notified.
How we can help: The site needs to build a database of serial numbers, and is looking for photographers to load an application that collects data for the site. Costs you nothing - but may be of massive value one day.
Before you ask: the theft occurred when I let a conman into our house. Don't tell me it's the oldest trick in the book and that I must be more careful - I have kicked myself to Timbuktu and back again since I realised what I did :(
@indiannie_jones Annie - with shattering ease. A stranger rang the doorbell and talked his way into the house. He then distracted me, and picked up my camera bag and cell phone and left. By the time I'd realised, he was missing. The police tell me that they recognised the description and have dozens of cases open against him. To say I feel like a twat for being duped is the understatement of the century!
Don't be so hard on yourself - they do it well; it's not something you could've forseen. Though I am hoping they can track him down and get it back! Big hugs. x
So sorry to hear that happened to you, Eleanor. These things happen, and if you got duped it was because you gave him the benefit of the doubt. Will definitely register on that site. Brilliant idea.
thanks for posting this - looks like a great site! i sort of know how you feel, last november my house was robbed and my laptop (along with 2 belonging to my housemates) got taken :(
after the burglar took our stuff, he started playing music on my itunes which was scrobbled to my last.fm account and i reported this to the police, but due to last.fms privacy people not co-operating they weren't able to obtain any info about who was listening to stuff on my laptop :(
this seems like a great scheme, and should make it easy for police to be able to track down info about who's got it!
hope you're coping okay and that you had insurance etc
Sorry to hear about your camera. That site sounds very useful. Just be careful of how detailed the information is you give them. I am ultra suspicious anyway but it sounds like a good ruse to get personal information from people under guise of being a good samaritan. As an aside, there are other ways to get a stolen laptop back if you are persistant, here is an article that is only a week old and pretty interesting. http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-06-02/bay-area/29611657_1_laptop-goods-police-officer
@shadesofgrey Thanks for the warning. All the site want from you is the serial number and an email address. Nothing else required. So with a public gmail-type account you can remain pretty anonymous.
@shadesofgrey - This was my first thought. I'm skeptical, only because of the potential for data mining involved and potential for it to be abused at an unknown point in the future.
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Sounds like a good site though.
after the burglar took our stuff, he started playing music on my itunes which was scrobbled to my last.fm account and i reported this to the police, but due to last.fms privacy people not co-operating they weren't able to obtain any info about who was listening to stuff on my laptop :(
this seems like a great scheme, and should make it easy for police to be able to track down info about who's got it!
hope you're coping okay and that you had insurance etc
http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-06-02/bay-area/29611657_1_laptop-goods-police-officer