Laptop LoJack Leads to Baggage Handlers' Arrest

Three baggage handlers with a proclivity for swiping passengers' personal items at Tampa International Airport got a surprise recently when they were arrested for stealing a traveler's laptop computer.

To their dismay, the laptop was fitted with a LoJack, allowing the computer to be traced to its location.

According to NetworkWorld.com:

One of the accused is alleged to have sold the stolen machine to an acquaintance for $350, a relative of whose used it to access a MySpace account in the days after its disappearance, unaware that the very act of letting it connect to the Internet would be enough to lead investigators to the machine - the laptop connected back to the company's monitoring center, telling staff that it was 'in use'.

Police said they had recovered another laptop from the house of one of the accused, plus a wide range of other devices, indicating that the theft was not a one-off.

Absolute, the makers of the Computrace LoJack, recently reached an agreement to have its hardware-based tracking device integrated into Intel's Centrino laptop platform. The business deal will allow customers to use the LoJack if they choose to subscribe to the service.