Stolen PS3 phones home
IF YOU OWN a PS3 bought from a bloke down the pub with no questions asked, you can expect a knock on the door from Inspector Knacker of the Yard.
Gizmondo spins a yarn about Dustin Waller whose fun-loving fiancée bought him a PlayStation 3. He was a bit surprised when coppers told them that the machine was hotter than a Roman love goddess in August.
Apparently the machine was nicked and fenced to a local pawn shop. Waller assumed that the account already on the system was automatically generated and was oblivious to the fact he had been logging in under someone else's name. This just happened to be the name of the person who'd reported their system stolen.
Inspector Knacker rang up Sony who tracked Waller's IP and found the address of the PS3.
Waller is now Playstationless. And it looks like Sony is helping police with their inquiries in the future. µ
L'INQ
Gizmodo
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They tried to offload a 360 on him as a worthy replacement... LOL....

The guy declined, as "isn't nearly as expensive or sophisticated or reliable as the PlayStation."
Then it would be worth registering the product and filling in with the correct details, if I knew the manufacturer was going to help the police if I was ever robbed.

What a great idea. It could make stealing laptops worthless, reduce insurance premiums, and all for some simple coding. If MS included it in Windows Licensing then they could even make people happy-ish about the activation procedure.
@interested_party...
Yeah thanks for coming out Apple already does this, but all it takes to bypass is to do a format of your drive, which is what he should have done with his PS3.
If he formatted he would have had a PS3, now he has nothing. 
I have a little friend called DRM... chirp chirp

This wasn't an intentional "function", it was related to the user profile and not any hard coded protection.

As for Microsoft "anti-theft" software, how about requiring you to be constantly connected to the internet to use it... let's just route all your http request through them to make sure your really you?

Acquired Nice Laptop
New Laptop hard drive $100
New copy of Pista that will work amazing on your nice laptop with new hard drive $100


All it does is allow the "innocent" buyer to get caught and the original owner to get his box back after the cops have sat on it for evidence (in their coffee room no doubt) for about 6 months.

The little oik responsible for theft is no doubt walking about with a couple of hundred quid in his pocket and the police have ticked the crime off as solved.

The only way to stop the theft in the first place is to make all home entertainment systems 8 feet wide and at least 200kg.
Umm, he logged in with the account of the guy who got his PS3 pinched... 

If the idiot, made his own account, sony would've never known that PS3 was stolen.

I'm glad he was able to get the police to care enough to do this. When my PS3 was stolen I explained to the police how they could trace it in this manner, but they didn't pursue it.
Apple will not do this with ipods or phones because they would prefer you bought a new one.