Guy uploads pix of self from stolen iMac

Last week a number of computers were stolen from our office in Vancouver, BC. One of those computers was a shared iMac with Flickrbooth, an app that automatically uploads photo booth shots to our flickr account, installed on it. Just this morning a friend called to tell us that there are photos of whoever has the computer now in our flickr stream! Obviously the guy didn't know he was uploading images of himself and his awesome tattoos.

Here's a link to the shots on the company's flickr account. Do you know who this guy is? The theft victims and the Vancouver police would love to hear about it. Looks like the SomethingAwful forums are all over the case, too.

Update: A gem in the comments thread: "There should be a word for this, thinking you're getting away with something on the sly while the world laughs at you, anticipating your inevitable demise -- schadendouche?" [beatnik]

And looks like there are more security cam photos of this man here, and video here.

And a clarification: we don't know for a fact that the guy in these photos is the thief, that's for the legal system to decide. It is possible that he is simply an innocent new owner of a previously pilfered laptop or laptops.

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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musicman

I just created a new flickr account for the woman I’m house sitting for to upload photos of her new kittens. When I got to the flickr new user welcome page, there he was! lolz…I wonder if the alogrithm that chooses those photos is done on # of comments or # of views?
gilesslade

This is a much more common problem than most people think. But I’m still upset that this guy never read my article about these security programs for macs and other notebooks on HuffingtonPost.com. It’s available by googling ‘Your Notebook is Going Commando” or by clicking on the following link…
Can’t wait til he gets caught. Interested to hear what he has to say. Giles Slade
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/giles-slade/your-notebook-is-going-c_b_51316.html
Cpt. Tim

boing boing. please follow this story, i want to see this man get his ass handed to him.
Anonymous

I saw that pic and before I read the text I said to myself “hey, I know that guy, I think”. Then I read that the theft was in Vancouver, where I lived up until 8 months ago.

Now this is going to kill me…I know I’ve seen his face and/or tatts.
andrewkumar

this is too funny; yes please follow this to see if / when this muppet gets caught
Anonymous

there should be a word for this: thinking you’re getting away with something on the sly while the world laughs at you, anticipating your inevitable demise.

We will give it the name of this man when he is caught.
If his name is mikr, we will call it a mikring.
beatnik

there should be a word for this: thinking you’re getting away with something on the sly while the world laughs at you, anticipating your inevitable demise.

schadendouche?
calanan

The guy turned himself in:

Stolen iMac turned in [Vancouver Sun]
strider_mt2k

Fools always get exactly what’s coming to them.
dlayphoto

The photo made #1 in Flickr’s Explore for yesterday!

http://www.bighugelabs.com/flickr/scout.php?username=workspacevan&sort=date&year=0
Anonymous

Is it just me or he is kinda handsome o_O He can steal my stuff anytime…
Mark E

there should be a word for this: thinking you’re getting away with something on the sly while the world laughs at you, anticipating your inevitable demise.

I would recommend that this be known as an inepthft. It’s even more fun to write out than it is to say.
Christovir

I wonder: how many criminals get naked before sorting through their loot?
havoc

I’m a cop and we have a saying. “We only catch the stupid ones”. Priceless photos. I can’t wait to hear the rest of this story. The only thing missing is a shot of him smoking crystal meth.
Anonymous

I was wondering if Flicker could provide the ip address of the computer that uploaded the pics. They should be able to do that.

marilyn jess
l’elk!

if a number of computers were stolen, might the criminal have sold some of them? what if this is just a person who bought hot merchandise?

just shooting a thought…
still funny though :P
Sunfell

I see that he’s ready for his “Cops” appearance: No shirt, dumb tats, and an even dumber expression on his face!
JHudson

Ah, I was just going to say the same thing L’Elk did! For all we know, this is the guy who bought it from the thief, or even bought it from the guy who bought it from the thief. That still means he’s worth finding, since he can finger the bad guy, but we shouldn’t assume he’s the thief.

Innocent until proven guilty and all that.
poweroid

How do you know he didn’t get away with it?

I think it’s unlikely that the police will take any action on this, and even less likely that they’ll catch the thief if they do act.
john

Very interesting story i made a Spanish version of your article (http://quieroalgodiferente.com)so i hope they can catch the thief and that you can recover your computers without those “come and catch me” photographs
mujadaddy

Note to self:

Buy electrical tape for stolen iSights.
Anonymous

OH my goodness…. a classmate of mine in the grad program at SFU Crim sent me this. Mr Ugly-Tats is reason #1 why she and I will always have jobs in Criminology.
Cpt. Tim

in most circumstances where you’re offered a hot computer, you know its a hot computer.
l’elk!

ohhhh! security cam photos! nevermind… i take back what i said. haha
Tensegrity

He looks like Henry Rollins’ much dumber brother.
dlayphoto

Dugg:

http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Idiot_criminal_uploads_pix_of_self_from_stolen_iMac/blog
calanan

Is that Dan Lauria from the Wonder Years? :)
Tomas

I look forward to seeing more on this!!! :o)

Sorry to hear about the burglary, happy to see the pics.

Good luck on getting the Macs back!

Tomas
Anonymous

1. Contact Flickr and get an IP address to where the photos where uploaded from.

2. Contact ISP.

3. Show up at guy’s door.

or

Print out the photos and start goin around to tatoo parlors!
W. James Au

I’m thinking new viral category: LOLperps. “Im in ur flickr, tagging my tattooz”
Anonymous

you mean Schadenfreude (german word)?
Anonymous

I was wondering if Flicker could provide the ip address of the computer that uploaded the pics. They should be able to do that.

Once you have the ip address and the exact time of the upload you can see which Internet provider “owns” that ip address. You can then go to that provider and find out which account was using that ip address at the time the picture was uploaded.

This CAN be done. I used to work as a Level 3 tech for a cable provider and we used to do this all the time when one of our customers get infected with a virus and was e-mailing everybody like crazy to try and spread.

We could figure out which modem was assigned a specific IP address during a specific time period and then disable the modem and call the customer to clean up their system b4 we would reactivate them.
Anonymous

Just look for a loser with the Alien from the movie Alien tattoooed on his arm. Lame !!!
ricket

Actually douchenfreude would be more accurate (joy at watching a douche).
Anonymous

Dad!
Anonymous

How I learned to stop worrying and love the panopticon.
robert chaplin

Stupid monkey. Stupid, stupid monkey.
nice photo though, maybe we can all chip in, make a big backlit C-print, and donate it to the Vancouver art Gallery for a tax credit.
Cheers, R
Anonymous

Looking through the pictures from the pre-theft days, you’d almost think this was an advertisement for how cool and fun it is to take and manipulate pictures on a Mac!