Choate pointed & grunted to: Software which pinpoints the exact location of laptop thieves via the Net is due to land in Europe by the end of this year. The software, developed by US company zTrace, activates a tracing technology when stolen laptops are connected to the Internet. Boy that's hard. All you need is a fixed IP (for laptop to check if its been reported stolen) and a 1-800 number (well, the Euro equiv which gives caller's number) and a warrant (ergo the required police report) for the number's meatspace loc'n from the local Telecom. Someone should do a freeware knock off. A software dead-man switch (tell the laptop a secret or it reports itself stolen to a 1-800 trace...) would work just as well. And you can forget the 1-800 if you can count on the equiv of 911 service.