The Theft Problem

There are brief discussions of the theft problem here:

Case design#The colour of the case,

Case design#The Theft Problem,

Case design#Blank field for personalizing indented in the case

How can we make sure that adults do not steal these laptops and start to use them for nefarious purposes?

The Problem

There is a serious theft problem that must be addressed if this laptop is to be made available in developed countries and that includes many of the orange countries on the map. As long as the laptop is distributed to children only, there will be no adult market for the laptop. In other words, there will be no motivation for adults to steal these laptops from children for their own use.

It is good that these laptops look like toys and are available in distinctive bright colors.

I think that the project leaders need to make a statement on adult availability including the "three for one" pledge that was recently published on Slashdot.

If there is to be any distribution to adults, it should be in a different physical form factor from the one distributed to children. For distribution to developers, it could be in a desktop form factor that runs off mains power, i.e. non-folding ugly functional plastic case. If there is to be a model distributed to adults in the target countries then it should be made in a more traditional dull laptop color and it should have a wifi system that works on DIFFERENT frequencies and with some kind of an incompatibility in the protocol. Adults should not be able to eavesdrop on the kids, pretend to be kids, or send kids inappropriate materials.

This is a serious topic which really needs its own page. For now, one should not forget problems caused by portability and market value of the OLPC, making it possible object for kid-to-kid and adult-to-kids thieft. As industry developed multiple anti-thieft protection mechanisms, none should left unconsidered. Simpliest detachable security cable with case-integrated 4-digit code lock would ease thieft problem significantly.

Make them different to public available comercial products

If the olpc laptop has different

• color
• shape
• size of motherboard

it can be easily identified as a olpc laptop.

Much of that will require engineering effort, reduce the economy of scale, and make laptops less desirable. It's easier to just print "olpc" in great big letters on the back.

Serial Number

The MAC Adress can be used as a serial number. If a laptop is stolen this number will be written to a database. There can be a USB Stick with a small linux and all serial numbers of stolen laptops. If you boot from this USB stick it should show if the laptop is stolen. (MAC adresses can be changed temporarily by software)

RFID Access Wristband

I would like to propose a different approach than using a different color set for the casing, or using the MAC address. I do agree with the previous posts that the theft problem is a serious burden of this project that must not be underestimated.

I do think that the color set of the casing should not be changed, even if these machines were to be distributed to first world countries (Which isn't planned yet, I know). In my view, a prime appeal of these machines are actually the bright and colorful casings they have. Striping them of these shells would transform them in some way to a "usual gadget" which it shouldn't be. These machines don't deserve to be "usual", they deserve better. I think these colors are actually cool.

Let me now move on to the theft problem. I would propose, that every child who gets such a notebook, would also be given a wristband. This wristband should be equally colorful as the laptop, so that the child could better find it, should it be lost. The wristband, which could be made of nylon should include an RFID chip. When the laptop is started it should first scan for a specific RFID signal. If it is detected, then the laptop should start as normal. If not, then the laptop should be automatically shut down, thus making it worthless for anyone who isn't allowed to use it, like thieves or their customers. The "Wristband-Login" should be well secured, so that it would even with first world technologies and knowledge be difficult to crack it. Over time, thieves would eventually come to the conclusion, that it doesn't make sense to steal these machines from schools, or from whereever the children store them. The "Wristband-Login" would also prevent people from using the machine without the childs permission, thus protecting its privacy, and ultimately the privacy of its contacts in the email or instant messenger program. So, what happens if the child would lose the wristband you might ask? Well, I strongly assume that in every region, where these laptops are to be delivered, there would be some sort of a central support station, to where these kids could go, if ever there was a problem with the machine. These central support stations should also have replacement wristbands on stock and a "Wristband RFID writer", so that they could recreate the wristband for the child. Mind you, these RFID connections should also be encrypted, so that the children can't be tracked.

To sum up, the RFID Wristband would have following advantages and disadvantages:

• + The laptop can only be started with the specifically for this machine made RFID wristband in close distance, thus making it worthless for thieves, their customers or any person who wants to access the data on the child's notebook.
• + RFID Wristbands are cheap to make and easy to replace.
• + Large numbers of notebooks could be stored at school without fearing that they were stolen, because twenty laptops would require the wristbands of twenty children which are almost impossible to get.
• + There is no need for a login password, which means that you won't encounter the problems connected to them as well.

• - RFID wristbands could be tracked, if they are not encrypted.
• - If there wasn't a central support station, it would be hard to get a wristband replacement, should it be lost.

All in all I think the advantages are considerably greater than the disadvantages. It would also greatly increase the privacy of the child and the people in its contact lists.

Best Regards

C.Beeli

Addendum to my previous post:

• These wristbands could actually be watches, very simple child watches with an integrated RFID chip to authenticate their laptops. While the possibility of losing a watch would be considerably smaller than of losing a wristband, it would also provide the children with the current time. Of course, these watches would have to be very simple, robust and cheap to manufacture, so that they wouldn't add too much to the costs of a laptop. Such a watch would provide the child with a means of securing (authenticating) its laptop and as a nice side effect with the current time. I think in these targeted countries children don't usually own a watch. A watch could be very useful though, for meeting up with other children or with the laptop support center etc. And well... what if that watch actually had two timezones on it, the local timezone... and maybe (if such a program would be implemented), the timezone of a possible donor person... wouldn't that be cool? ;)

--Xapadoo 18:20, 16 January 2007 (EST)

• To manufacture these watches cheaply you could turn to SWATCH or Casio. I'm absolutely sure they'd be highly interested.

--Xapadoo 09:26, 18 January 2007 (EST)

KISS principle and simple economics

This is getting crazy. The easy way to reduce the theft problem is to get Walmart and Amazon selling many millions of these. Why buy a used one shipped from far away when you get get a nice clean one in original packaging? All these ideas about locks and RFID and such are just going to add cost. The answer to the theft problem is to drive cost down, making stolen laptops nearly worthless. Adding a bit of value to the retail ones, probably extra RAM (no extra engineering needed), would be the death blow to the market for stolen laptops. AlbertCahalan 13:30, 24 February 2007 (EST)

Heh, I just realized that MIT is in Cambridge, where attempts to distort the market made a huge mess. The place had rent control. Landlords responded in two ways. First, they just got rid of housing because it didn't pay. Second, they found ways around the law such as forcing people to rent/purchase overpriced furnishings to go with the apartments. One would think economics is taught somewhere in Cambridge. AlbertCahalan 13:36, 24 February 2007 (EST)