Some big news in Vancouver has followed in the wake of the theft of six computers from a company called Workspace. The news has spread like wildfire around the web because, in the case of this theft, the suspect unknowingly identified himself by playing around with his new stolen computer’s camera.

One of the six computers stolen from Workspace, an open-concept shared work environment in Vancouver’s Gastown, is set up with a program called Photobooth. Photobooth uses the in-built camera on the Mac to take snapshots; in combination with a second program called Flickrbooth, it has the ability to share those photos online. This particular iMac computer sat on the coffee bar area of Workspace as a communal computer, and Photobooth is a popular application visitors use to leave a brief hello.

This story has hit the news because the thief, or the buyer of the stolen computer, stumbled upon the Photobooth application and decided to take a couple of photos of himself. What he didn’t know was that Workspace had the application pre-set to automatically upload those photos to Flickr (a photo sharing service). The suspect has, therefore, revealed his identity.

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.

The news was first reported by Workspace owner Bill MacEwan, who noticed the photos appear in his Flickr stream.

The photo is of a man without his shirt, and with many identifiable tattoos. He took a second picture of his large back tattoo, ironically making himself even more identifiable. This picture, coupled with security footage could assist police in finding the suspect. He may, however, be none other than a knowing or unknowing purchaser of the stolen laptop, in which case his identity has been revealed to the detriment of his character.

Although the photo is an unusual element in this case, it should not be taken that programs such as Flickrbooth/Photobooth are replacements for computer tracking and recovery programs. Computer security is far more complicated, and computer recovery is still most guaranteed with the use of laptop recovery software such as Absolute Software’s Computrace/Lojack programs. This case hinges on both luck and stupidity, but the data on these computers may still be at risk, and there is still a chance the computers may not be recovered.