

Dom's laptop is in Iran - Apology - bradleyg_
http://laptopiniran.tumblr.com/post/47771396698/laptop-update-apology

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niggler
"The people who now have my laptop have been good enough to get in touch and
therefore _the tracking software has done it’s job._ " (emphasis mine)

Astroturfing round 2

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ambiate
Agreed. This is a brilliant scheme for building backlinks. Adding it to my
list of blackhat garbage.

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andyjohnson0
A new post st <http://laptopiniran.tumblr.com/post/47772239088/further-news>

"The innocent new owners of my laptop have been in touch and are mortified
about the story and are keen to return the laptop.

Given the huge error of judgement on my part in sharing the story and failing
to respect their privacy I have asked them to keep it by means of an apology."

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vy8vWJlco
"Given the huge error of judgement on my part in sharing the story and failing
to respect their privacy I have asked them to keep it by means of an apology."

So, the victim apologizes for shining the public light on the theft of their
property. (In this case, even with the software, it's unlikely that the new
possessor would have been identified without the publicity.) Furthermore, in
lots of places prior theft invalidates later sale and transfer of ownership
even if the illicit purchase occurred without mens rea. There's no insurance
policy on counterfeit money either - in this case the current possessors
(presumably) paid for a second-hand (high risk, possibly stolen) laptop. Buyer
beware; they should absorb the loss and give it back (assuming the facts are
as they seem, and it's not just one big astroturf).

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wldlyinaccurate
So these people are now aware that they are in possession of a stolen laptop.
Are they going to give it back? Will they cooperate with the authorities to
track down the thief? For some reason I find this whole situation really
interesting and I hope Dom gives some updates.

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daliusd
Other post answers this:

<http://laptopiniran.tumblr.com/post/47772239088/further-news>

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shawnphoffman
Maybe I'm just of a different mindset but if they offered to return my laptop
I would have gladly accepted.

For it to be such an issue in the beginning and then not-so-much in the end is
suspicious.

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niggler
The storyline is:

Laptop stolen, police report filed, laptop shows up in Iran, owner shames the
people in possession of laptop, owner realizes he attacked the wrong person
when readers and commenters pointed it out, owner realized the people in
possession of the laptop are nice and now fells guilty, owner decides to give
laptop to them as a nice gesture for the Internet to see.

The part that's not mentioned: how much compensation he received from the
company that runs the tracking service. If its more than the laptop cost, the
owner is still net ahead.

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tehwebguy
> compensation

Does the service have a replacement guarantee or are you implying that this
was a brand deal and he's being paid for the posts?

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niggler
The latter (and if I were the CEO of that company, I probably would give the
guy a new laptop, especially if the posts resulted in an influx of customers)

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ChuckMcM
I think of myself as tending toward the cynical but this goes even farther
than I would. Is there any reasoning behind that belief or just general
cynicism? (for example is Dom somehow involved in marketing or advertising?)

