<p>(I've posted this on the College Life thread, but I think this board is more active.)
To prevent laptop theft on campus, many students are buying laptop locks. According to this</a> article however, these locks have turned out to be virtually useless: they can easily be violated.</p>
<p>Are you all continuing to use locks in good faith that the old locks will still do a decent enough job? At Princeton, is laptop theft really even an issue?</p>
<p>Could you post the article? It can't be viewed by Twincities non-members.</p>
<p>Most people here don't even use the locks. I do cause im paranoid but my suitemates dont (they leave their iPods around too) and we have an open door policy. Theft isnt really an issue here.</p>
<p>From this</a> blog
[quote]
September 01, 2004
Top laptop locks are pickable
Uh-oh. Turns out many of the top laptop locks are easily picked using ordinary materials.</p>
<p>Such locks include models from Targus and Kensington (both lock and combination models) along with a Compucage enclosure.</p>
<p>This has profound implications as laptop sales outpace desktops and portable security becomes a hot issue. Some firms deploy laptop cables by the tens of thousands but are now wondering if they wasted their money.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The full article is here:
[quote]
Posted on Tue, Aug. 31, 2004
Laptop locks easily picked</p>
<p>Leading models offer little security</p>
<p>BY JULIO OJEDA-ZAPATA</p>
<p>Pioneer Press</p>
<p>Marc Tobias played laptop thief one recent evening, showing how easily several leading anti-theft devices can be defeated using simple materials such as a ballpoint-pen barrel, thin piece of plastic or cardboard tube... But according to Tobias, a Sioux Falls, S.D., attorney and lock expert, some of the leading lock models have design flaws that make them absurdly easy to pick.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Tobias has tested other laptop locks. He says a PC Guardian combination lock appears to be well designed. "It's a nice piece of work."</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Andy Lax, a San Francisco public-relations consultant, said he'll probably keep using such cable locks as a "casual deterrent" but places more stock in the sturdy locks on his office door and cabinets.</p>
<p>
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Thanks for the response pimpdaddy. I have heard that Princeton's campus is generally safer than most colleges, but many college students (not from Princeton) have been telling me that a laptop lock is an aboslute must. Now it seems that they are practically useless!</p>
<p>Just don't be stupid and leave your laptop lying around.</p>
<p>Thanks, gianievve.</p>
<p>But whom can you trust?</p>
<p>
Just don't be stupid and leave your laptop lying around.
</p>
<p>Quoted for emphasis</p>
<p>Just don't be stupid and leave your laptop lying around.</p>
<p>Well is it safe to leave it lying around in your unlocked room? What about leaving it on a library desk while you get a drink of water? How about on a table while you line up at the cafeteria?
The problem with a laptop is that you can't exactly tote it around everywhere you go.</p>
<p>Hm, for some reason I think that you'd be relatively safe leaving your laptop around in most places.</p>
<p>Anyone who has gone to Princeton recently hear of any actual theft? </p>
<p>Think about it: you steal someone's laptop, then... use it? Wouldn't someone notice (Your parents/friends/maybe the person you stole it from)? These aren't bad kids, you know. I'm sure you don't have to worry about people stealing your stuff, but I still wouldn't be goofy and leave it out way in the open for extended periods of time.</p>
<p>Maybe you could try putting a huge, ugly, neon pink sticker on the laptop or something.</p>
<p>or you could buy a pink laptop like Elle in "Legally Blonde" :)</p>
<p>"Well is it safe to leave it lying around in your unlocked room?"</p>
<p>No. You ought to lock your room even when you're going to the bathroom unless your roommate or someone you trust is there. This extends to protecting other objects like your iPods, clothes, money, food whatever. It's just common sense.</p>
<p>" What about leaving it on a library desk while you get a drink of water? "</p>
<p>Get someone near you to watch it.</p>
<p>"How about on a table while you line up at the cafeteria?"</p>
<p>I've never seen someone take their laptop the cafeteria. If you need to carry it around alot get a backpack that has a laptop pocket, so you can carry it easily.</p>
<p>"The problem with a laptop is that you can't exactly tote it around everywhere you go."</p>
<p>See above.</p>
<p>I've left my laptop in the library for hours and nothing has ever happened to it. Use your best judgement, leaving your iPod at a frat party is far different from leaving your laptop at Firestone.
If you lock your door and take care of your valuables, I really don't see anything being stolen.</p>
<p>"These aren't bad kids, you know."</p>
<p>True; the vast majority of Princeton students would not be tempted to steal another's laptop. However, there are occasionally reports of real sketchballs hanging around Frist or some other public gathering spot. Firestone may be relatively secure (need an ID to get in), but people need to remember that much of Princeton is left unlocked almost round-the-clock (e.g. many academic buildings that one can just wander into at 3 AM). Princeton is an easy target for wannabe petty thiefs who are looking to pinch a laptop or a bike or something of that nature.</p>
<p>Didn't mean to get all foreboding there...it's just important to remember that the 'orange bubble' here can easily be breached by those with malicious intent.</p>