Airports: blackhole for laptops

Three friends are attending the Paris Cinema International Film Festival (6th edition, 2008), the last of the three boarding her plane just about now (Saturday morning, PHI time). She is set to join our good friend Aureaus Solito, a panelist at the Festival and director of two of about 30 entries, Pisay and Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros, and Margie Templo (Arkeo Films), an invited workshop participant. More here.

To travelers like my three friends, planning, packing, departing and arriving aren't always pleasant experiences. They have so far either been lucky with not losing important items, or have constant presence of mind to pack or bring only the essential. However, in most cases, the essential are almost always of value, not just to them, but to others. Such as portables, aka the ubiquitous laptops.

A recent survey in the U.S. says that more than 10,000 laptops are lost OR STOLEN in airports EVERY WEEK. PC World already wrote about this survey on June 30, 2008:

...Airports, along with hotels and parked cars. are places where laptops can be easily stolen, said the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on its Web site. The confusion of going through security checkpoints can make it easy for travelers to lose track of their laptops, making it "fertile ground for theft," the FTC said.

The FTC recommends people treat laptops "like cash." Like a wad of money, a laptop in public view -- like the backseat of the car or at the airport -- could attract unwanted attention. The FTC also recommends using tracking devices like Absolute Software's LoJack, which can help track down a stolen laptop by reporting its location once it is connected to the Internet. Lenovo last week announced it would offer the LoJack option in its upcoming ThinkPad SL series laptops.

The survey was made by the Ponemon Institute and paid for by Dell to be used for its laptop data protection service for business travellers . (View the report here.)

Richard Stiennon, a security service industry expert, picked up the survey in his blog, and offers three suggestions on how to avoid losing the lappie — and other items of value:

1. Place your laptop in the first bin you put on the belt of the X-ray machine. You should put your laptop bag in front of it.

Put the bin with your shoes, belt, purse, wallet, etc. right behind your laptop. And your carry-on bag last. The first thing you should do on the other side is put your laptop in its bag before the other luggage crashes into it and dumps it on the floor. Your other stuff separates it from the person behind you and in front of you.

2. Mark your laptop! Put a sticker on it. I know people hate to do this. But you should identify your laptop in such a way that you can quickly identify it. There are lots of Dell computers our there. I have almost picked up the wrong laptop on many occasions. DO NOT TAPE YOUR BUSINESS CARD TO YOUR LAPTOP. Do not become a target by letting potential laptop thieves know just how valuable your laptop may be. My favorite marker for my Dell Latitude is the white Apple sticker I got with my iPod.

3. If you lose your laptop contact the TSA immediately. Call the airport. Take action. I bet in 99% of the cases you can get it back.

Unfortunately, recovery is low at 33%, according to the survey*. Besides, given the hassle of going through stringent security regulations at airports in general, keeping within budget and fare rates, plus time constraints, travelers are not afforded the luxury of lodging complaints, much less the space to contemplate retracing their movements.

Stiennon ends his blog asking where the recovered laptops end up. Interesting query, but before we even get there (as this is something for the authorities to think about), I hope all mobile users will keep in mind to put into practice these simple and practical steps.

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REFERENCES

• Dell.com: Airport Insecurity: The Case of Lost Laptops
• Ponemon Institute
• Richard Stiennon: How to avoid laptop loss at the airport
• USAToday: Survey: 10,000 laptops lost at U.S. airports every week

Graphics: krvilla.08

Wired: Macs in Damascus, Hasan the local 'Mac Guru'

Wired.com's story, The Mac Guru of Damascus in the Case of the Missing Laptops, is about Eric Umansky's experience losing his MacBook and his fiancée's MBP in Syria to a break in.

Before my fiancée and I headed to Syria to study Arabic, we often heard there was one advantage to living in a police state: almost no crime. So it came as a surprise when Sara and I returned to our Damascus apartment one night after a dinner party to find splintered wood in the hallway — wood that had once been part of our front door. I made a beeline for the living room to check on our most valuable possessions: my MacBook and Sara's MacBook Pro. Both gone.

Eric, the author who wrote his story on his recovered laptop, is a contributing writer for various publications and a columnist for Slate. He wrote that it wasn't the authorities who eventually led him to the thief almost two days after the crime, but a contact to an unlikely fellow: a local Mac technician.

A friend had put us in touch with Bassel Al Hassan, apparently the one guy in Damascus who services Macs. A few days later we shared a meal with Hassan, a soft-spoken man in his mid-thirties. "Yours were the seventh and eighth stolen Macs I've recovered," he said.

Eric said Al Hasan called up computer shops in town not telling the shop owners about the stolen Macs. When one of the shop owners confirmed having two units in his possession which he paid $200 for, Hasan informed the owner that the computers were hot items. The shop owner then met up with Eric and his fiancée at a street corner in our neighborhood.

Meanwhile, Eric wrote that all Bassel Al Hasan wanted in exchange for helping them recover the Macs was permission to 'friend' Eric on Facebook.>/p> Whole story here.

Shoujiki

Receiving some guests recently, particularly the parents of an American volunteer in town for his wedding, and his counterpart from the Ifugao province, we touched upon the issue of keeping our things safe from thieves even in a seemingly safe place like mid-scale Ortigas and its upscale cafés.

Our volunteer-friend narrated how he once dropped his cell phone in a tricycle in Kiangan, Ifugao, only to be returned to him after it was found by young locals who called the last number they saw was dialed. Apparently, the youth who found his cell phone called up our friend's last dialed number and told the answering party that they were looking for the owner of the cell phone. Our friend was informed about it a few days later and was just too happy to take the 30-minute rough ride down to Kiangan to retrieve his cell and treated the finders to a round of drinks. Our friend knows that if that happened in a highly urbanized area besides Metro Manila, that retrieval was highly improbable.

I came upon this New York Times article and recalled the discussion we had at the Ortigas café. It is about the Japanese Law on Lost Goods or the ''Notes on the Law on Lost Property'', a code established in 718 (that's right, before the unification of Japan). It states, in part:

Back then, lost goods, animals and, mysteriously, servants had to be handed over to a government official within five days of being found. After a year, the government took over the belongings, though the owner could still reclaim them. The code stipulated that people had no right to keep lumber found adrift in a flood.

Shoujiki, or "honesty" in Japanese, pertains to the ideals of being truthful and sincere. It is one of many ways "honesty" in Japanese is carried out or lived by. It does not even have to be a biblical tenet, just a basic human principle of trust and respect and fairness, even in today's world of the disposable and instant.

In modern Japan, what used to be the loss and retrieval of livestock, vegetables and lumber have given way to gadgets, toys and other personal ephemera.

The item with the highest return rate -- 75 percent -- is the cellphone, which has flooded the center in the last three years. Owners typically call their own phones, or the center traces the owners through their subscription and sends a notification postcard.

"Umbrellas, the item most commonly lost — and the least reclaimed — 

at the Lost and Found Center in Tokyo." (Ko Sasaki for The New York Times)

We've often wondered how else besides being precise, pragmatic and respectful, the Japanese are successful at whatever undertaking they attempt or do. I would surmise that adhering to and respecting tradition and their own version of the concept of kapwa-tao (sharing and kindness), albeit basic as it sounds, are ingredients to keeping their public safe and their integrity intact.

''I feel uncomfortable holding another person's money,'' Mr. Hirahaya (a photographer who found and returned cash) said ''I think many Japanese people feel the same way and hand over something they find. I think among Japanese there's still a sense of community since ancient times.

Read the full New York Times article Never Lost, but Found Daily: Japanese Honesty by Norimiysu Onishi (Published: January 8, 2004) and see what lessons we can get from practicing something as simple and basic as honesty.

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‣ Calligraphy image courtesy of www.orientaloutpost.com ‣ Lost and found center image courtesy of the New York Times.

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Here's the LIST of stolen items (updated).