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Can you match the case of the Iranian laptop? Can you match the case of the Iranian laptop?
(6 months later)
When Dom Deltorto's laptop was stolen from his London flat, he had little hope of ever seeing it again. But because he'd already installed Hidden App, a piece of software that allows you to track a computer the next time it connects to the internet, he saw plenty of its new owners. To his surprise, they were Iranians, living in Tehran, where a black market in electronic devices thrives as a result of international sanctions.When Dom Deltorto's laptop was stolen from his London flat, he had little hope of ever seeing it again. But because he'd already installed Hidden App, a piece of software that allows you to track a computer the next time it connects to the internet, he saw plenty of its new owners. To his surprise, they were Iranians, living in Tehran, where a black market in electronic devices thrives as a result of international sanctions.
The Tumblr he created to document the lives of his laptop's adoptive family (the app allows screengrabs to be taken of the desktop) quickly went viral, and Deltorto ended up with an unusual record of the second life of his piece of stolen property.The Tumblr he created to document the lives of his laptop's adoptive family (the app allows screengrabs to be taken of the desktop) quickly went viral, and Deltorto ended up with an unusual record of the second life of his piece of stolen property.
Whether it's via eBay, or Twitter, the internet provides ample opportunities for finding out about, or – if we're lucky – recovering, things we'd assumed were lost for ever. Has the power of the crowd ever reunited you with something you'd lost? Perhaps your experience played out in real life. Ever caught anyone using something that once belonged to you? What did you do about it?Whether it's via eBay, or Twitter, the internet provides ample opportunities for finding out about, or – if we're lucky – recovering, things we'd assumed were lost for ever. Has the power of the crowd ever reunited you with something you'd lost? Perhaps your experience played out in real life. Ever caught anyone using something that once belonged to you? What did you do about it?
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