Recover A Stolen MacBook

I apologize if this thread is in the wrong section.

So my macbook was stolen. I have been googling for hours looking for a way to recover it. It seems like the only way to do it is if I had installed preventative software before the incident.

Since going that route is a little too late, I need some questions answered.
1. Does the integrated airport card emit a signal?
2. Is the MAC Address and the Ethernet ID the same thing?
3. If I have my Airport ID, can I can rig up a computer or some device to sniff out this signal while driving around? I believe the culprit is local.
4. Is there a program that will search the internet to see if the airport/ethernet ID pops up anywhere?
5. Will the Airport/ethernet ID be useful to ISPs in tracking there whereabouts of my computer?

Thank you very much in helpful answering of these questions. A solution to this theft problem will be a treasure troph.

Depends on the laptop settings i guess?

if u had bluetooth set to discoverable you could pick it up via that,

I don't have a broad enough range of networking knowledge to shed any real light.

the wifi would emit a signal if it were on, if u had a router connected and set to "home" witht he laptop, so when in range it will connect. bringing the two in range of each other woud connect them if the laptops settings weren't changed. however this leads to the issue of lugging a router attached to a laptop with the conectivity monitor up.

the outlook seems bleak from where i am.

I'm sorry I am going to be of no help, but reminded me of this article.

Good luck getting your mac back.

1. Does the integrated airport card emit a signal?
2. Is the MAC Address and the Ethernet ID the same thing?
3. If I have my Airport ID, can I can rig up a computer or some device to sniff out this signal while driving around? I believe the culprit is local.
4. Is there a program that will search the internet to see if the airport/ethernet ID pops up anywhere?
5. Will the Airport/ethernet ID be useful to ISPs in tracking there whereabouts of my computer?

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1. Yes, but only when it's searching for access points. The card communicates with access points and transmits data, however this data is not readily readable and does not act as a 'homing beacon' of any kind.

2. Perhaps, I've never heard of an Ethernet ID, however a MAC address is unique to the piece of hardware. For example your Wireless card may have MAC address: ABC_123 while mine may have address: ABC_124. With this said, however it is possible to chance the MAC address by spoofing MAC addresses or simply changing the airport card to a new one.

3. As in 1, the signals sent out by the device are only really readable when the laptop connects to an access point, for example if the laptop connected to an access point you had Admin Control Panel on you could view its MAC address, however this is an option that's really pretty impossible without a lot of hastle and the probability of finding your laptop by driving around with a Wifi access point in your car hoping the laptop will connect is about 1% success rate.

4. No, the only information that websites can read is information about the browser and IP information, websites can not read MAC address information in 99% of cases.

5. Again, no. It's doubtful, the MAC address of the laptop doesn't directly connect to the ISP, rather the modem connects to the ISP and the ISP reads the modems MAC address.

For example if you have a ADSl router with MAC address ABC_123 and your WLAN card has a MAC address of ABC_124 your routers control panel will show device ABC_124 connected to the network and your ISP will show modem ABC_123 connected to the ISP backbone network.

[Macbook(ABC_124)] <--> [Router(ABC_123_] <--> [ISP] <--> [Internet]

<--> shows two way comms.

Hope this helps, somewhat.

sometimes the most effective way to find your laptop is old fashioned deceptions. you can probably count on the person having the laptop still reading your emails. i know of people who have conned theifs into sending their addresses in an email when they think they are winning somthing or getting somthing free.

something like

Hey "your name"

i found your wallet in the street i assumed this business card inside is yours so i emailed the address on it. do you want me to mail you the wallet? im heading out of town so just email me the address and il post it.

thanks

"made up name"

its a pretty blunt method but you can generally count on the thief's greed to be what sets them up. If it doesnt work well at least you tried.

the theif might even reply back saying "do you think im stupid" which at that point he will be confirmed as stupid as you should be able to gather some detail from the email.

Good luck