Can I find out if someone is using my stolen media player and locate it?
Err, no.
actually it is not impossible.
Each device has a unique identifier called MAC address. It is written on the bottom of the wdtv live smp (unfortunately not on the packaging itself) and is visible by navigating in the menu to “Setup/System/Device Registration”.
This unique address is transmitted to servers at WD while doing the firmware update check everytime the device is booted. If you happen to know your device’s MAC address you could ask WD if they can provide you with the used Internet address for the latest firmware update try of your device.
… at which point, if WD actually provided such information, that’d be a violation of their own data privacy policies, as the claiming owner cannot “prove” that they are in fact the legitimate owner.
And even if they did, there’s little to nothing one can do with an IP address to find out where it is…
You’d have to get a court order to get the info from WD, but they could provide it. Or if you know they’re using one of your services that requires a password you could get a court order for that. For example, if they’re watching your netflix.
doubleO8 wrote:
This unique address is transmitted to servers at WD while doing the firmware update check everytime the device is booted.
Why should this be necessary?
Probably for support tracking…
They can see how many unique units are being upgraded versus how many shipped have NOT upgraded… (of course, it doesn’t work if people are updating manually,)
Techflaws wrote:> … at which point, if WD actually provided such information, that’d be a violation of their own data privacy policies, as the claiming owner cannot “prove” that they are in fact the legitimate owner.
And even if they did, there’s little to nothing one can do with an IP address to find out where it is…
I suppose receipt + court order or whatever legal means will suffice. (maybe the device was even registered with full name using the menu.) eh … this is the “land of the free and the home of the brave” … where granny is sued for copyright infringements because she allowed someone to download the latest Britney tunes w/o an actual internet connection. it should not be too hard to retrieve a stolen device which regularly phones home :P> Joking aside:
One could at least try to get their stolen property back. Maybe not in such a cool manner as this guybut …> * * *doubleO8 wrote:
This unique address is transmitted to servers at WD while doing the firmware update check everytime the device is booted.
Why should this be necessary?
I really don’t know ! if one manually removes the MAC address from the request the very same response is generated by the update server.
if the original poster does not know its devices MAC address the speculations here are pointless anyway.
