Researchers at U Washington and UCSD Test New, Free Laptop Tracking System

Researchers at U Washington and UCSD Test New, Free Laptop Tracking System

This article is about a a free, open-source software program you can install on your laptop. The program running on the laptop tracks its locations based on IP addresses, nearby routers, and access points. This is stored in encrypted format on the laptop itself. When the laptop is lost or stolen, the laptop owner can install a recovery tool on another computer (including a password that was assigned on the laptop with the original program) and can access the location information the program has collected.

Has some great benefits like not paying for a tracking company to have access to the information about laptop location (possibly even when the laptop is not lost). I don't know how easy it might be for a thief to disable the tracking software--hopefully they've put in a few safeguards, but with open-source, anyone has access to the original code (not necessarily the copy running on a particular computer).

Hope it can be used successfully!