So I'm watching Dateline NBC tonight...

[MsWhatsit]

...and they're doing an expose on iPod thieves. They bring the wife of one of the thieves into their big RV which is disguised as a big music giveaway promotion thing, and this woman hears..


"Hi, I'm Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC, and we have your husband on tape...." :eek: :eek: :eek:

"...stealing an iPod."

And somehow her response was not, "THAT'S IT? THANK YOU LORD JESUS!"

Also, the title "To Catch an i-Jacker" is just stupid.

[ZipperJJ]

For some reason, I thought your post was going to be "and I saw my husband/son/brother on 'To Catch a Predator'" :)

Dateline's going all vigilante on EVERYTHING now, isn't it? Sheesh.

[Garfield226]

Dateline's going all vigilante on EVERYTHING now, isn't it? Sheesh.
"Hi, I'm Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC...we have you on tape...


going 56 miles per hour on the interstate. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?"

[Hung Mung]

"Hi, I'm Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC...we have you on tape...


going 56 miles per hour on the interstate. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?"
Fuck you, and call me when you bring back Stone Phillips.

[asterion]

"So I'm watching Dateline NBC tonight..."

That was your first mistake. How anyone can watch that travesty of a show is beyond me. Is a little actual journalism too much to ask for? I don't think those shows (Dateline, 20-20, and the like) have been worth watching in my lifetime.

[Wee Bairn]

They called in the wife to tell her her husband committed petty theft at worst? Pretty lame.

[Ferd Burfel]

Fuck you, and call me when you bring back Stone Phillips.

Stone Phillips. Is there anything he doesn't know?

[Auntbeast]

They called in the wife to tell her her husband committed petty theft at worst? Pretty lame.


In the United States, the value necessary for a crime to rise from Petty to Grand theft can be as low as $100 depending on the jurisdiction, but is usually $200 or $1000.

Depending on your jurisdiction, stealing an Ipod may very well be a felony. If you take into consideration all the legally purchased music it contains, it can sail pretty comfortably into felony territory.

[I'm Ron Burgundy?]

"Legally purchased music"
...on a iPod?

LMAO

[UncleRojelio]

"Legally purchased music"
...on a iPod?

LMAO

At least three billion (http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/11104/) of them are legally purchased.

[Trunk]

...and they're doing an expose on iPod thieves. They bring the wife of one of the thieves into their big RV which is disguised as a big music giveaway promotion thing, and this woman hears..


"Hi, I'm Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC, and we have your husband on tape...." :eek: :eek: :eek:

"...stealing an iPod."

And somehow her response was not, "THAT'S IT? THANK YOU LORD JESUS!"

Also, the title "To Catch an i-Jacker" is just stupid.
Can you explain what the show was?

Did they have a stranger leave an iPod in a public place, and put a camera on it, or something?

And why did they bring in a wife, and not the culprit?

[MsWhatsit]

Okay, I'll admit that I was not paying extremely close attention, as I was only watching in the first place because I was too lazy to turn the TV off after "Last Comic Standing." But the gist, as far as I can tell, was that Dateline left shopping bags or backpacks that had iPods inside them in public places. They then set up hidden cameras to videotape the inevitable people who came along, saw that someone had left behind an iPod, and made off with the loot.

Then, some time later (a few months? not sure) they used some kind of database or something (again, sorry, fuzzy on this detail because I wasn't really watching closely) to find the name and address of the person who registered the stolen iPod, and went to their homes. The wife I mentioned earlier had been given the stolen iPod as a gift from her husband. Several other people had also been given their iPods as gifts (or so they claimed) or had bought them under shady circumstances, i.e. from the back of someone's car or from someone they met at a poker table.

The whole setup seemed pretty ridiculous to me. Is it news that when people come across an expensive item left unattended in a public place, some percentage of them will make off with it? Is it news that some of those people then go on to sell those items? Dateline NBC apparently thinks so.

[control-z]

Never mind, nothing to see here...

[scotandrsn]

Can you explain what the show was?

Did they have a stranger leave an iPod in a public place, and put a camera on it, or something?

And why did they bring in a wife, and not the culprit?

The left an iPod in plain sight in a mall or shopping center, on the dashboard of a car with its window open, etc., and taped what happened. They knew the serial number of the iPod and its hard drive, etc., and arranged so that when the iPod was registered at iTunes, NBC got the info too, which usually included the person's name and address that they entered.

So they show up at the house in an RV, pretending that they're doing some sort of "30th Anniversary of the RV" promotion. They say, "you just registered a new iPod, correct?" and offer them a free iTunes card if they'll come out to the RV for a few minutes. Then they fess up to being Dateline and show the tape of that specific iPod being taken.

A few times, the person who claims ownership of the iPod was not the person seen lifting it on the tape. One woman said her husband gave it to her as a gift, and that he bought it at Best Buy. They narrated that she confronted him, and he confessed he bought it at a flea market (it wasn't him on the tape either.)

[Wee Bairn]

So the whole point was to track and confront a thief, and the result was most of the time the person who ended up with it had no knowledge of the theft? What was the point then?

At least in their hard hitting expose of people who steal unlocked bicycles, they actually stopped and talked to the one who took it...

[scotandrsn]

...The whole setup seemed pretty ridiculous to me. Is it news that when people come across an expensive item left unattended in a public place, some percentage of them will make off with it? Is it news that some of those people then go on to sell those items? Dateline NBC apparently thinks so.

The point was that in the case of the iPod, which, to be useful, must be registered with Apple's website, it's actually quite easy to track the merchandise once stolen, assuming access to the info. However, Apple has the info, and at the corporate level, does nothing to track iPods reported stolen, despite the fact that people would probably be more likely to buy their AppleCare insurance if it included iPod tracking, and the fact that if it were known that Apple was tracking the items, theft of them might decrease.

Okay, I'll admit that I was not paying extremely close attention, as I was only watching in the first place because I was too lazy to turn the TV off after "Last Comic Standing."...

You don't want us to think you watch Dateline on purpose and then fess up to Last Comic Standing? Eeeeeeeeeuw.

[MsWhatsit]

The point was that in the case of the iPod, which, to be useful, must be registered with Apple's website, it's actually quite easy to track the merchandise once stolen, assuming access to the info. However, Apple has the info, and at the corporate level, does nothing to track iPods reported stolen, despite the fact that people would probably be more likely to buy their AppleCare insurance if it included iPod tracking, and the fact that if it were known that Apple was tracking the items, theft of them might decrease.

Ah, interesting, I missed that part.



You don't want us to think you watch Dateline on purpose and then fess up to Last Comic Standing? Eeeeeeeeeuw.

Hey, I tells it like it is. Not a fan of "hard-hitting" news magazine shows. But cheesy reality shows are my guilty pleasure.

[Cat Fight]

I caught a few minutes of this and it was utterly retarded. Sometimes the thing was in a plastic bag on an empty bench, like trash. No evidence of its owner anywhere. The 'good' people were the ones who sat down next to it but left it there... for someone else to take.

The problem is, I think, that most people would act the same way whether they were intending to fsteal it or find the thing's owner -- look through the bag, look around to see if anyone's close by.

[Mahaloth]

I thought it was incredibly shallow.

Are Ipods so important that we need an episode like this? Small things get stolen all the time!

Who cares?

[MovieMogul]

At least three billion (http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/11104/) of them are legally purchased.Suckers!* :D

*note that I don't have even a single MP3 file, or whatever you call them, in my possession, let alone a music library

[DiosaBellissima]

As an aside, To Catch a Predator- while completely unethical- is like, my favorite TV show. With lines like, "I can't control my horny level" and "I'll just be your secret lover, hehe", how could it not be?

I was thinking of buying a Chris Hansen shirt to wear next time we have a To Catch a Predator party, but my friends said that will just lead me down a sad road. It's only a matter of time before I show up in their sting house, with a Chris Hansen shirt on and an NBC hat, carrying a box of beer and dildos (they come in one box now). The kid is going to be all, "Take a seat over there, I made some---" And I'll jump in, "Sweet Tea! I know! Omg! Can I have a cookie too?"

Then Chris Hansen is going to come out and be all, "Do you ever watch TV?" and I'll be like, "Of COURSE! I love that Dateline show!" And then he'll say, "Do you know who I am?" And I'll excitedly scream (in the most fangirl of manners), "YOU'RE CHRIS HANSEN FROM DATELINE NBC AND YOU'RE DOING A REPORT ON ADULTS WHO SOLICIT SEX FROM MINORS ON THE INTERNET!!! *squeeeeeee*". Then I'll cling to Chris Hansen, humping his leg and letting him know it wasn't the kid I came to molest.

Then I'll walk outside and as TreeCop attacks me, I'll be screaming, "OMG THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE! First I hump Chris Hansen of Dateline NBC and now I just got Tree Cop'd! SCORE!"

Watch out for that episode, it's bound to air eventually.

[Mahaloth]

DiosaBellissima, are you feeling ok?

:)

[DiosaBellissima]

DiosaBellissima, are you feeling ok?

:)

So long as Chris Hansen and To Catch a Predator are in my life, I'll be better than fine. ;)

[Hung Mung]

As an aside, To Catch a Predator- while completely unethical- is like, my favorite TV show. With lines like, "I can't control my horny level" and "I'll just be your secret lover, hehe", how could it not be?

I was thinking of buying a Chris Hansen shirt to wear next time we have a To Catch a Predator party, but my friends said that will just lead me down a sad road. It's only a matter of time before I show up in their sting house, with a Chris Hansen shirt on and an NBC hat, carrying a box of beer and dildos (they come in one box now). The kid is going to be all, "Take a seat over there, I made some---" And I'll jump in, "Sweet Tea! I know! Omg! Can I have a cookie too?"

Then Chris Hansen is going to come out and be all, "Do you ever watch TV?" and I'll be like, "Of COURSE! I love that Dateline show!" And then he'll say, "Do you know who I am?" And I'll excitedly scream (in the most fangirl of manners), "YOU'RE CHRIS HANSEN FROM DATELINE NBC AND YOU'RE DOING A REPORT ON ADULTS WHO SOLICIT SEX FROM MINORS ON THE INTERNET!!! *squeeeeeee*". Then I'll cling to Chris Hansen, humping his leg and letting him know it wasn't the kid I came to molest.

Then I'll walk outside and as TreeCop attacks me, I'll be screaming, "OMG THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE! First I hump Chris Hansen of Dateline NBC and now I just got Tree Cop'd! SCORE!"

Watch out for that episode, it's bound to air eventually.
I despise the predator catching show. That, however, is an episode I would watch.

[DiosaBellissima]

I despise the predator catching show. That, however, is an episode I would watch.


I'll even give the SDMB a shout out. Wait. That's what I'll do- I'll wear my Chris Hansen T Shirt and a Straight Dope hat, yes?

[Asimovian]

I'll even give the SDMB a shout out. Wait. That's what I'll do- I'll wear my Chris Hansen T Shirt and a Straight Dope hat, yes?The Straight Dope might be better served if you forgot to mention it, I'm thinking. But I'd sure as hell watch the episode. :)

[Rilchiam]

So they show up at the house in an RV, pretending that they're doing some sort of "30th Anniversary of the RV" promotion. They say, "you just registered a new iPod, correct?" and offer them a free iTunes card if they'll come out to the RV for a few minutes. Then they fess up to being Dateline and show the tape of that specific iPod being taken.

So someone I've never seen before comes to my house. Assuming I even open the door, they then give me some jazz about a free thingamajig if I get in a van. Yeah, I'm all over that.

[scotandrsn]

So someone I've never seen before comes to my house. Assuming I even open the door, they then give me some jazz about a free thingamajig if I get in a van. Yeah, I'm all over that.

Yeah, I was a little uncertain of that as well, but we're talking about people that steal an item, then tell the manufacturer that they have it, who they are and where they live. We're not talking about the brightest bulbs on the Christmas tree here.