[ Thanks to Naomi
Graychase for this link. ]
“Which brings me to my last point: Do you really need a
vendor-operated central monitoring station, or can you set up your
own central place where alerts can be sent? GadgetTrak,
Oribicule’s Undercover for Macs and iPhones, Prey (for Mac,
Windows, and Linux), and PC/Mac PhoneHome are all tools that don’t
make use of any central monitoring station, instead, the software
sends info to your e-mail (and for GagetTrak, to Flickr) accounts
directly. With some of these products, upon booting they look for
the presence or absence of a special URL that indicates the laptop
has been stolen. If so, they send information, such as the current
IP address, a snapshot from a Webcam, screenshots, and other
details to your e-mail address.”