application idea -- anti theft system

[Steve]

Stroller wrote:
> 
> On 13 Oct 2007, at 00:09, Derek Pressnall wrote:
> 
>> I have an idea for a simple alarm application.  The idea is that if
>> you leave your phone sitting at your desk plugged in charging, then
>> you can activate an app that will play an alrarm sound as soon as the
>> devices is unplugged (with a popup keypad to enter a disarm code).
>>
>> A variant would use the gps to determine if the phone has moved more
>> than a few feet from where you left it.
> 
> I can think of lots of other ways to implement anti-theft measures in
> this phone.
> 
> IMO if I'm too far away from the phone to notice someone nicking it then
> I'm unlikely to hear it making an alarm sound.
> 
> I would have it instead check http://mywebsite.com/theft.txt and if it
> doesn't get a 404 (i.e. you only put the file there when the phone has
> been stolen) then have it email you its GPS position.
[...]

You may want to do the opposite.  Your phone may think it's being stolen
if you happen to get on something like a wireless connection with
NoCatSplash. (Which hijacks the first attempt to grab a web page in
order to show you a welcome page.)

I'd be tempted to have PGP signed stolen/not stolen pages to alleviate
any ambiguity.  Failure to retrieve either would just be ignored.

-Steve