Online platform gets on camera thieves

Service locates stolen devices using individual data

The web service StolenCameraFinder.com http://stolencamerafinder.com help. As the Guardian reports, experts search the network for individual camera data that is saved with photos. Ideally, this is how you want to find out about the thief. This digital fingerprint of the photos can be deleted, but the process is time-consuming and complicated.

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Camera: Service brings back device and memories (Photo: pixelio.de/greitzke)

SearchSuccess after two years

The web service, which relies on Web 2.0 and user crowdsourcing, can already come up with success stories. The Australian Kevin Hayes' camera was stolen in Canberra in 2009 - more than two years later he found the device via StolenCameraFinder.com. The "new" owner was careless and uploaded his own photos to a Flickr account - one of the photos was also a self-portrait in the mirror. Hayes was able to locate the man's address and regained possession of his camera. While the chase doesn't always go smoothly, StolenCameraFinder.com founder Matt Burns is hoping for more such success stories.

Burns put the website online in 2009 after two cameras were stolen from him. Since 2010 he has been adding new serial numbers of online images to the database to increase the chances of success of a search. But not all cameras save the individual data. The focus is primarily on new and expensive devices that are saved as standard. So far, the platform's biggest weak point has been its small community. Although the website now receives up to 50.000 visitors per month, StolenCameraFinder.com can only function really efficiently with a much denser user network.

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