[Techtalk] Sniffing for stolen MAC addresses

[Daniel Pittman]

Kelly Jones <kelly.terry.jones at gmail.com> writes:

> A friend of mine had a computer stolen recently.
>
> The computer had a wireless network card, and we believe the thief
> might be stupid enough to use the machine as is.
>
> We know the card's MAC address. Is there any way to advise all local
> wi-fi spots to alert authorities if they see this MAC address on their
> network?

No, because there is no technical standard for implementing this sort of
central monitoring.  (Plus, if there was, imagine the privacy outcry. :)

> This seems like a great way to recover stolen laptops + other wi-fi
> devices. Has anyone implemented it?

No.  On the other hand, there is software available that will upload
location information and so forth transparently.  At least one vendor[1]
has embedded the software into the BIOS[2].

Unfortunately, most of it depends on Windows. :(

Regards,
        Daniel

Footnotes: 
[1]  Dell, IIRC, but I can't find a citation.

[2]  They said; I presume that it is something slightly different, and
     their marketing fluff wouldn't really going to go into the
     technical details — but they did specify Windows only.