My TomTom was stolen from my car

[Eugene Phillips]

BB

 

[dhn]

Huh? What are you asking, if anything? No, your device can't be tracked, sorry.

 

[canderson]

Um... bummer?
I've always thought that the registered owner should be able to declare a device stolen with TomTom (would need to supply serial number and MyDrive credentials), and have the IP addresses of any subsequent connection attempts provided automatically.

 

[camper]

Um... bummer?
I've always thought that the registered owner should be able to declare a device stolen with TomTom (would need to supply serial number and MyDrive credentials), and have the IP addresses of any subsequent connection attempts provided automatically.

Yes that should be simple shouldn't it. The device is registering with the network at intervals so its sending its own ID and, if set up that way, would even be transmitting its location and speed. Shouldn't be too hard for a customer or TT to track a device that way. Although you'd probably only be able to get to within a hundred metres if its using mobile phone masts.

 

[canderson]

The location/speed issue is another story, and is complicated a good bit by EU privacy law, though that might not be quite as big a deal for you in the UK now <g>. Location information is anonymized in such a way that it can't be readily traced back to any particular device. They actually do a rather good job of that.

 

[camper]

Location information is anonymized.

Yes I can understand that is done before being processed or stored. I was merely thinking that the data is available at the time of the handshake between the device and the nearest mast, in exactly the same way as a mobile phones ID is transmitted. So the possibility exists for TT to build in this feature, just as the police are able to track where a mobile phone has been used by which masts it has been handshaking with.
Still , I appreciate that doing so doesn't make any money for them so why should they do it.

 

[canderson]

On the cellular side, it would be the carrier (Orange, or whomever) that needs to do the hunting, not TomTom. TT doesn't have any access at all to the carrier side information (e.g., which cell site was accessed).