Teen dies trying to hold onto iPad during theft | Hacker News Reader

Teen dies trying to hold onto iPad during theft

news.cnet.com

12 pointsBrajeshwar22 comments

I am kinda disgusted by cnet, the only reason they are posting this is because of the ipad/apple connection.

Agreed. Would it be news if it just said "teen dies trying to hold on to valuables during theft"?

Though I suppose is valuable to point out that electronic devices are valuable enough to get mugged over which might not be obvious

Didn't realize cell phone theft was a big thing. Don't personally know anyone it's happened to. What value would a cell phone be to a thief? I would assume a theft would be flagged in a cellular provider's system for the given ESN and disallow any future service registration by someone other than the original owner. Are thieves getting someone to change ESNs on these phones or do cell companies just not care?

It's a huge thing! I had three phones stolen in the past 18 months, all while abroad. The last time my iPhone was stolen from my front pocket while I was partying. In the same timespan I also successfully fought of one guy in my own country who tried to steal my phone.

It's the reason why I don't carry a smartphone anymore. :)

From what I hear stolen phones are often moved abroad, where they wouldn't be blocked. I'm not sure if it's true, however, since I don't think many phones get blocked to begin with. And if they do get blocked, I bet they get blocked after they've been sold.

Could perhaps be the case that if only 5% of phones don't get blocked then that pay-off makes it worthwhile for desperate criminals (i.e. people needing money for addictions, as opposed to people planning strategically).

I read somewhere that they are sold in bulk to criminal gangs who change whatever codes identify the phone and then resell them abroad.

I presume you run off to Craigslist and dump it off on someone else as soon as possible.

Las Vegas Police now have two in custody:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/may/19/two-arrested-ipa...

Tragic, but I have to ask, is this on HN because it was an iPad?

Would there have been a difference if the item involved was a watch?

I would like to know if he wanted to keep his Hardware or data that he didn't back up :-/

At 15, I doubt he was more concerned about the data than the actual device.

This is why my family has always told me that if a thief comes and wants your [whatever, not-life/body], to just give it to them. It's not worth your life :<

It's really sad to hear that this happened. I just wish the kid's parents had taught them that.

And as for the thief. I wonder how they feel about committing a murder in addition to what would have just been grand theft.

That's great advice if you live somewhere where either thefts rarely happen, or thieves are often armed.

For locations in between those extremes, well… you're the reason thieves here move on to a next victim if you resist a bit.

Also, I doubt your family had incidents like this in mind when they gave you that advice.

There are also anecdotal stories of people who gave in to thieves and were still killed, and people who stood up to them and scared the thief off.

That doesn't mean standing up is the right thing to do, but would be interesting if anyone had any more insight into which was the safer option - though I guess hard to give, as presumably it depends on who the thief is, their state of mind, how exactly you react, etc. Regardless, I don't think I'd ever change from an automatic response of giving up whatever they wanted.

Well - you can use UCR data to check the mugging to murder ratios. I am guessing the overwhelming vast majority of muggings don't result in death, and the overwhelming majority of murders don't occur during muggings.

This would imply that the safe course of action is to give up your stuff.

A few hypotheticals examples where this data wouldn't necessarily answer the question:

- 100% of mugging victims fight back

- 100% of mugging victims immediately give in

- Muggings turned into murders are reported only as "murders" in UCR (I'm not familiar with this data, random guess)

- Attempted muggings where the victim fights back and the mugger runs away aren't reported as crimes, so aren't included in these statistics

- Muggings of small value might not be reported (I'd report a lost phone to get it blocked, but if someone wanted all the cash in my wallet I probably wouldn't bother calling the police)

I've never really understood this logic, if you encourage people to be passive against theft then it makes becoming a criminal easy and you will have more of them and likely be targeted again.

I can understand if you have a real reason to fear for your life like being cornered by dangerous looking people or someone who is armed. I have resisted muggings in the past and always walked away with my life and possessions in tact.

The idea that it is an individual’s duty to stand up for their rights by using force has, albeit being somewhat romantic, no place in a modern society.

If someone robs you, the best way is indeed not to resist and let law enforcement and the judicial system to handle the case. This is ideally less risky, less troublesome and also more effective.

I have in fact reported such incidents to the police in the past, but they will not act unless actual violence has occurred.

Besides, to be helpful one needs a better description than "some guy in a hoodie" in a place with 100s of people in hoodies.

First of all ... muggings, plural? How victimized are you?

Secondly, the premise that not resisting a mugging will cause an increase in the number of muggings, I simply don't accept this premise.

There's gangs of punk teenagers (and some adults) around here who will try various tricks to part you from money or belongings. If I gave them what ever they decided to ask for in a threatening tone I would literally have no nice things.

I believe that if you reward certain behaviors then you will get more of them, I guess this is the same as "don't negotiate with terrorists".

wow- this is awful.

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