-MR- Posted March 12 Share #1 Posted March 12 (edited) Advertisement (gone after registration) I had an incredibly revolutionary idea: I thought that no thief or pickpocket steals phones anymore; you can leave your mobile phone openly on a park bench in cities like Rome or Barcelona, and no one will steal it. Every thief knows that phones, especially iPhones, are so well protected with passwords and Face ID that they are useless to a thief. So why not protect cameras in the same way? Simply integrate Face ID so the camera can only be unlocked in this way. Only the manufacturer should be able to reset such locked cameras, so that as a theft victim, you can deposit your camera with the manufacturer. Lenses could also be locked if they are connected to a different or locked body. Why are there so many security measures for phones but none for cameras? In a few months or years, thieves would have spread the word that current cameras are also protected, making them unattractive targets for theft. I know many people who hesitate to buy Leica because they are afraid of being robbed. They then use cheap cameras to minimize the loss in case of theft. Therefore, manufacturers should also have a great interest in finally protecting their cameras against theft. I think this idea is revolutionary. ps. excuse my english, iam no american native speaker. Its german brain still using. Edited March 12 by -MR- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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-MR- Posted March 12 Author Share #2 Posted March 12 (edited) Face ID is the standard and works flawlessly in 2025. I use it everyday, even with my black cat Face ID works, I saved her face too in case I had an accident and become disfigured. So I can unlock my iPhone with my cat. Cats are so useful. Cameras: The Face ID prompt could appear after the device is turned off or after every fifth hour of operation or casually in the many minutes you activly use the camera. So you wont miss a "Bresson moment" 🙂 Such details would need to be considered and fine-tuned, but with smartphones, Face ID works even without any delay. After all, you're already looking through the viewfinder or at the display, so your face is inevitably in sight of the camera back with the face ID lens. Edited March 12 by -MR- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelG Posted March 12 Share #3 Posted March 12 3 hours ago, -MR- said: : I thought that no thief or pickpocket steals phones anymore; you can leave your mobile phone openly on a park bench in cities like Rome or Barcelona, and no one will steal it. Every thief knows that phones, especially iPhones, are so well protected with passwords and Face ID that they are useless to a thief. Hmm…not here! ”Mobile phone theft reaches highest recorded level in London” Times of London Headline March 10th Mobile phone theft rose to a record level in London last year as the number of handsets being snatched more than tripled in four years…A Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Metropolitan Police has revealed that 70,137 phones were reported stolen in the capital in 2024, up nearly 40 per cent from 52,428 the previous year…The Met says phone theft in London has escalated so quickly partly because organised criminal gangs are now selling stolen handsets overseas...Many of the stolen devices are thought to be shipped to Nigeria and China, where they are wiped then sold on the black market or stripped for parts. The Met estimates that the trade in stolen phones is worth £50 million a year. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
-MR- Posted March 12 Author Share #4 Posted March 12 (edited) I doubt this. A stolen iPhone is useless. Even FBI cant access it. Edited March 12 by -MR- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted March 12 Share #5 Posted March 12 13 minutes ago, NigelG said: Times of London ? 😮 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelG Posted March 12 Share #6 Posted March 12 A sop to all NYT subscribers (me inc) who might otherwise get confused about which supposed “paper of record” - cough - I was referencing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted March 12 Share #7 Posted March 12 Advertisement (gone after registration) Apart from the fast that I, too, have never ever heard of anyone NOT buying a Leica for the reason posited I'd say that perhaps the company might do better by taking a leaf from the pages of both 'Bond-James-Bond' and a German company called 'Armatrix' : "In the 2012 film Skyfall, James Bond (played by Daniel Craig) was given a gun coded to his palm print, so only he could fire it. This kind of security measure was also seen in the film Licence to Kill. Now a German company called Armatix has designed a gun that requires the user to wear a radio-controlled wristwatch, which uses microchips to communicate with the firearm via a PIN code. As soon as the gun loses contact with the watch it will automatically deactivate itself, preventing anyone else from shooting it." Mind you; hardly in the spirit of 'Das Wesentliche'... Philip. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olaf_ZG Posted March 12 Share #8 Posted March 12 I think it’s brilliant. We can assign all freezing issues to this new future… the camera froze cause it didn’t like your face/expression… 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetPhoto Posted March 13 Share #9 Posted March 13 yeah such a wonderful idea... get a haircut,,,, have to send the camera back to the mothership in germany, and get it back in what 12-14 months.. juste SHAVE a little tooo close, and you have to send it back to the mothership for a reset... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetPhoto Posted March 13 Share #10 Posted March 13 just need to air a modified version of the giggler death scene in death wish 3 as a normal commercial. all mugging would go down. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhotoCruiser Posted March 13 Share #11 Posted March 13 Face recognition will not really lower theft as the destination market is not only unlocking the device if possible, but after my insurance specialist they get disassembled and sold for parts. When my two MacBooks and a iPad got stolen they appeared once same day in the evening and from then they disappeared from Apples "Where Is" network and never showed up in two years. Discussing the theft with my Insurance theft specialist, he told me the above, same for Cell Phones. One hint for any device, use file encryption for notebooks and external disks, that saved the data on two external hard disks also stolen from being read and probably abused. Also AirTags or similar devices have a limited use, all AirTags in the stolen luggage and Wallet where immediately removed and thrown out of the car on the French Highway as AirTags are easy to detect. Much better than face recognition would be a finger print reader on the shutter button or the body where a finger usually rest, that would speed up unlocking the camera over face recognition. This obviously to be able to disable if user don't want the fingerprint reader. However, thieves on public places usually don't know what they steal, they steal a camera, a cellphone, a wallet, etc and discover later what the value is and if the things are locked or not. Burglars are probably a more knowledgeable breed, particularly if they know that someone have expensive gear/things stored. Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephan54 Posted March 13 Share #12 Posted March 13 Another option: take theft seriously, investigate those crimes and put the criminals in jail. That will certainly help. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted March 16 Share #13 Posted March 16 Any fingerprint or face recognition must have the option of disabling, usually by a passcode. And passcodes, at least the normal five-number ones on phones, can be broken. It is also childishly simple to circumvent the passcode and Apple ID on a Mac or iPhone, if you want to reset it to factory settings to sell. https://iboysoft.com/howto/how-to-factory-reset-macbook-without-password.html https://www.wikihow.com/Factory-Reset-iPhone-Without-Apple-ID-Password Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted March 16 Share #14 Posted March 16 It worked on my MacBook Air when I prepared it to send in for a screen replacement and experimented. The trick was to set up a new Apple ID and link to it. It won't work if the previous owner has locked it because that goes by IMEI number. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olaf_ZG Posted March 19 Share #15 Posted March 19 On 3/16/2025 at 9:46 PM, Al Brown said: It does not work like that. Try it. I did. We found an iPhone at the office and everybody said it is not theirs. After nobody claimed it in 6 months we reset it to factory settings, but without the owner's original apple ID or a passcode we were not able to get it to work. It is quite bulletproof. I even called an iphone "doctor" and he said fuggeddaboutit. You should have cut off somebody’s finger… in films this works 100%… Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GFW2-SCUSA Posted April 12 Share #16 Posted April 12 Once the camera is stolen; locked becasue it doesn't recognize the face or fingerprint or breath, the thief simply removes the $8,000. lens and sells it and tosses the camera in the rubbish. The preventive measues suggested would only work on a Q since the lens is not removable. The only solution I can think of it Be smart, Be insured, Be aware. Maybe have a large dog along side as well. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NZDavid Posted April 12 Share #17 Posted April 12 We received my late brother-in-law's smartphone along with other goods but we didn't have the password. There was no way to unlock it. So, sadly, it became a brick. It had no further value. We left it with the computer shop. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidrc Posted April 15 Share #18 Posted April 15 On 3/12/2025 at 10:38 AM, pippy said: Apart from the fast that I, too, have never ever heard of anyone NOT buying a Leica for the reason posited I'd say that perhaps the company might do better by taking a leaf from the pages of both 'Bond-James-Bond' and a German company called 'Armatrix' : "In the 2012 film Skyfall, James Bond (played by Daniel Craig) was given a gun coded to his palm print, so only he could fire it. This kind of security measure was also seen in the film Licence to Kill. Now a German company called Armatix has designed a gun that requires the user to wear a radio-controlled wristwatch, which uses microchips to communicate with the firearm via a PIN code. As soon as the gun loses contact with the watch it will automatically deactivate itself, preventing anyone else from shooting it." Mind you; hardly in the spirit of 'Das Wesentliche'... Philip. Good until your watch is stolen…..there is no answer other than stick tape over the red dot. All cameras which look non amateur, basic, will be a potential target. what a funny thread. Get real people. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted April 15 Share #19 Posted April 15 3 hours ago, davidrc said: …..there is no answer other than stick tape over the red dot.... What about all those M cameras which don't have a red dot in the first place? Is there truly no record of any of those ever having been stolen? If only Life - and thieves - were so simple... Philip. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Einst_Stein Posted April 15 Share #20 Posted April 15 (edited) To prevent car thief selling car components, Jaguar used to have serial number for every major component. It seems working reasonably well. But this may not work for cameras. I was told by police that the Leica's serial number doesn't help much. Now adding AI technology, I am sure there are many methods to make every important product almost thief-proof. It doesn't have to be fully thief-proof. Any improvements are good. Good Idea! Thanks OP. Edited April 15 by Einst_Stein Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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