Stolen Laptop In Iran: How Did Photos Help UK Owner Find His Stolen Laptop?

Londoner Dom Del Torto, who set up a Tumblr page dedicated to posting photos of the Iranian family who had bought his stolen laptop on the black market, has apologized to the family, saying the creation of the page was a "huge error in judgment."

The family had unwittingly become the object of Tumblr attention after the laptop started transmitting photos back to London via a piece of software which allows a user to track a computer the next time it connects to Internet. The page, which Del Torto dubbed "Dom's Laptop in Iran," posted photos of the family interacting with the laptop, in conjunction with Del Torto's witty captions.

His computer was stolen in a burglary at his home in north London in February. A month later, the tracking software he had earlier installed told him that the computer was to be found in Tehran, Iran. After police told him they were unable to help, he resigned himself to the idea that he was never going to get his laptop back. On April 12, he decided to post the photos on the Tumblr page as a joke. "It seemed to me," wrote Del Torto on his blog, "that a laptop that went missing from London and turned up in Iran was like a space probe landing on a distant planet and beaming back proof of intelligent life."

However, when the story went viral, he started to receive messages from people concerned over privacy issues and possible harm the site could do to the people pictured in it. Eventually it came to the attention of the laptop's new owners, who got in touch with Del Torto to communicate that they were "mortified about the story and keen to return the laptop," as he wrote.

Del Torto has asked the family to keep it by way of apology for his actions. "They were very upset. I could understand why. The people shown on the blog site are not thieves. The safety and wellbeing of private individuals is more important than any possession. Although I still miss my laptop I do not wish ill on anyone."

Tehran has a thriving black market in electronics, in part due to sanctions against the country.

Del Torto, 41, works for a London animation company. He has removed photos and other content from the Tumblr page, though the Daily News published an article featuring a few of the images.

The software app, Hidden App, tracks a computer's location, takes real time photos of the thief and screenshots of their activities on the computer.