Fergie's Tech Blog

The New Wild West: Your Laptop or Your Life?

Walaika K. Haskins writes on NewsFactor:

Coffee, tea, or a padlock? That might be the choice for visitors to cafes in San Francisco who want to experience the city's new wireless network. Just one week after the Bay Area municipality announced that it had chosen Google to provide free wireless broadband for city residents, police reports indicate that laptop thefts at wireless cafes are on the rise.

Imagine sitting at a local digital cafe tapping away at your laptop while downing your favorite coffeehouse beverage when two men approach you as if to ask a question. That is exactly what happened to a San Francisco finance manager after stopping at a Mission District coffee shop late one Thursday morning.

"I looked up, and I saw this guy leaning into me as if he was asking a question," the man said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. "I leaned forward and out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone fiddling with the computer cord. I tried to stand up, and as I stepped back, he stabbed me in the chest."

posted by Fergie @ 4/12/2006 08:14:00 AM