This is a story of theft, loss, discovery – and of mortification – designed for the digital age. It tells how a laptop stolen in London found its way to a family in Tehran and how, via a hidden app, the rightful owner was able to photograph those using his computer and expose them on the web. There is however, a happy ending.
The laptop in question belonged to Dom del Torto, a Londoner who works for an animation company in London's Shoreditch. In February his computer was stolen in a burglary at his home in Holloway Road, north London.
A month later a tracking app he had installed in the laptop revealed not only that his computer was in Tehran but was transmitting pictures back of the family using it.
Intrigued, Del Torto set up a Tumblr page, Dom's Laptop in Iran, showing his computer's new owners' interactions with his machine taken through the Mac's camera. The pictures, to which Del Torto attached witty captions, showed a young woman and an older man. In one image the younger woman has a towel on her head; in another she is wearing a hood.
He speculates about the relations within the family, and how his laptop ended up with them – comments and images he now says he regrets posting.
Source: https://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/apr/12/owner-stolen-laptop-spy-iran