Is it true that all newer laptops come with GPS tracking devices?

[MonkeyMe]

i was just watching a TV show, and it said something about since 2005 that all laptops are installed with GPS tracking devices to track them if they ever got stolen

is this true?

thanks!:cheesygri

[abu_sme]

absolutely not true. They have a provision within the bios that allows Lojack for laptops to be installed so it can't be erased, but that is a software package with nothing to do with it.

You might be thinking of cell phones which have had basic GPS built into it, but it is mostly based off of triangulation from the cell towers and isn't "true" gps in that it gives you the exact position.

[cwb27]

Ha, negative.

[MonkeyMe]

good to know, thanks! :cheesygri

[Kasakato]

What show?

[JAC]

Some IBM lappies offer this as an option, so IT can track inventory within a building, and presumable outside.

[cwb27]

Some IBM lappies offer this as an option, so IT can track inventory within a building, and presumable outside.

We talking about RFID?

[gman]

Some IBM lappies offer this as an option, so IT can track inventory within a building, and presumable outside.

IBM has something that can do more that. It has a real GPS. When the machine is turned on and the thief cannot provide a password within a time limit, the GPS will kick in. Then, police and/or security will narrow in and usually they will find it in a computer store because the thief wants to 'repair' it.

[jerryhung]

i was just watching a TV show, and it said something about since 2005 that all laptops are installed with GPS tracking devices to track them if they ever got stolen

is this true?

thanks!:cheesygri

This is tv show Numb3rs right?
Where their house was broken into, and they found the thief & recovered the laptop by FBI tracking the GPS device (I was like, yeah right, when I saw that part)

[Izzoshady]

It would be a godsend if they did put this in all laptops but I think that this will be a requirement years if not decades from now.

[mahpoaht]

i was just watching a TV show, and it said something about since 2005 that all laptops are installed with GPS tracking devices to track them if they ever got stolen

is this true?

thanks!:cheesygri

The GPS is attached to the truck that delivers the laptops, not the laptop itself.

[LonesomeDove]

All newer laptops do not come with GPS tracking devices BUT according to this article, Laptop vendors like Dell, HP, Gateway, and Sony do embed Computrace Lojack tracking module in ther BIOS of the laptop.
To use it you have to subscribe to their service.
Dell is offering a free 1 yr subscription for higher end models.

http://www.informationweek.com/security/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=W5BMLBC1Z23U2QSNDLOSK HSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=198701514

I don't know how it works but I doubt it is GPS system.

[Aske001]

Computrace is the same as Lojack - both are the invention of Vancouver company Absolute Software (http://www.absolute.com/laptop-security-solutions.asp)

They cut a deal to use the Lojack name in the USA because it's well known for the Lojack GPS reporting system used to track stolen trucks and cars.

Computrace is not a GPS system. It's hidden embedded software that automatically "phones home" when the stolen computer is connected to the internet. The company gets the IP address and traces it back through the ISP.

[ShadowVlican]

i was just watching a TV show, and it said something about since 2005 that all laptops are installed with GPS tracking devices to track them if they ever got stolen

is this true?

thanks!:cheesygri
i wish

where do these dumb rumours start anyways.... even my old geezer thinks it's true...

[Emancipated]

When manufacturing costs become so negligible they will put them in without informing the masses.

What was it that one of the big electronic outfits had put into their electronics about a year or so ago then some Scandinavian hacker found out and caused them to stop putting it in there or at least without giving disclosure?

[actng]

this is true. some of the laptop manufacturers these days also coat the surface of the keyboard with nano GPS trackers so that not only can the laptop be tracked but also the users of the laptop.

when the user goes through airport security, they'll set off the metal detector and be subject to a strip search. at which point the nano nodes will travel through the blood stream and congregate in the rectum of the person in question. In the rectum a small chip with mini USB connection will be formed which allows connection to a laptop for download.

in the chip will be information about the origin of the nano nodes and whether this laptop has been compromised.

[MonkeyMe]

What show?

this was on last week's episode of numb3rs