How to protect magic keyboard and mouse from theft in public use spaces.

Use wired keyboards & mice that are zip tied down in such a way that the cord would have to be cut to get the loose, rendering them useless. Or Don't provide machines for public use if the users can't be trusted.

One possible, but maybe not practical, solution would be to replace the Macs with laptops that can be bolted down or otherwise secured. That eliminated the portable keyboard and mouse.

Or, use a wired mouse and keyboard and look into a way that would sound an alarm when they are disconnected. Or figure out a way to thread the cable thru an opening that's too small for the connector on the end to go thru. And, as kurhx suggested use cheaper wired mice and keyboards.

dialabrain wrote:

FWIW, if the Macs are for public use, perhaps you should institute a policy of signing out the keyboard and mouse and have them returned when finished.

FWIW, if the Macs are for public use, perhaps you should institute a policy of signing out the keyboard and mouse and have them returned when finished.

I don't know if there's any way to construct a bolted-down plexiglass "cage" that's roomy enough to let someone easily put their hands into it to type on a keyboard, but that's not roomy enough to let them remove the keyboard from the cage.

Even if there was, having such a "cage" in a public-use space might be insulting to honest members of the public.

I don't know if there's some way to attach a wired third-party alarm sensor to a keyboard, such that if a thief pulls out or cuts the wire to take the keyboard, it instantly triggers a loud alarm.

Another possibility might be to get cheap third-party keyboards and mice that work with Macs but which are less attractive to thieves.

ku4hx wrote:

Buy the super cheap stuff nobody wants to own. But even then, people will steal dirt if they think that can get away with it.

That reminds me of a joke from behind the Iron Curtain.

Every day, a worker at a mine would take home a wheelbarrow full of dirt. Every day, the guards would stop him and thoroughly search the wheelbarrow, and find nothing (e.g., no gold ore, no tools), and after this search, they would let him go on his way.

This went on for years until the man finally retired. At a bar, one of the former guards caught up with him, saying "Comrade, I'm not going to turn you in to the authorities, but I just have to know. I know that you must have been stealing something all of these years, but I never could figure it out. What were you stealing, and how?"

The worker looked at him and said, "Isn't it obvious? I was stealing wheelbarrows."

You could consider replacing the public-use Macs with iPads, or (gasp) touch-screen Windows tablet PCs. Ones bolted down in enclosures that provided enough openings to reach the touch screen (and other buttons), but that did not have enough openings to allow removing the iPad or the Windows tablet PC.

This might be an option if the public-use Macs are there mainly to provide access to Web browsers, or if you can get iPad or Windows versions of the applications you need. You could then reuse the Macs as private-use Macs, or keep them as spares for when one of your regular private-use machines is down.

You can't stop pilferage unless you monitor the facility and check bags and such leaving 100% of the time.

I guess you might try those little radio frequency tags that alert shops a stolen object has passed through the portals.

But in the end, you just going to have to replace the stuff. Have you been watching the news about random looting and it not being stopped? Seems we have a problem.

Buy the super cheap stuff nobody wants to own. But even then, people will steal dirt if they think that can get away with it.

Now that's FUNNY!!! :) And as the Brits say ... "Spot on!".

True story ... I was there.

I was a lab chemistry assistant at university years ago; circa 1970. One of my jobs was to take inventory and make sure we had what chemical supplies we needed.

One of those supplies was alcohol. Pure reagent grade alcohol ... the drinkable stuff.

It kept disappearing and strangely enough it did so when frat parties and non Greek alike were partying on football weekends. I alerted my professor and he had me add Phenolphthalein to the bottles. Phenolphthalein is an indicator in acid based titrations that doesn't interfere in the reactions.

It's also an active ingredient in a common over-the-counter laxative.

Pilferage of alcohol stopped soon thereafter. Strangely enough the university's student medical facility had a large influx of patients complaining of severe stomach and intestinal "disturbances".

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