Lost Your Cell Phone? Call a Cab!

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========================== Lost Your Cell Phone? Call a Cab!

Taxis across the world are hotspots for misplaced electronic devices.

Erin Biba, Medill News Service Thursday, February 17, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Lost-and-found centers: They're not just for umbrellas anymore. Taxicab companies across the world report that cell phones, PDAs, Pocket PCs, and laptops are being mistakenly left in the back seats of taxis by the thousands.

And it's a global problem. About 900 drivers for cab companies in Chicago, Copenhagen, Helsinki, London, Munich, Oslo, Paris, Stockholm, and Sydney reported a deluge of discarded gadgets in their taxis over a recent six-month period.

In Chicago, more than 85,000 phones were found in taxis--about four for every taxi in the Windy City. A little more than half of those were reunited with their owners--in almost all cases by the drivers, says Pointsec Mobile Technologies, which conducted the survey.

While forgotten phones form the base of the mountain of abandoned electronics, 21,000 PDAs and Pocket PCs were also found in Chicago cabs, and about 14,000 of them were eventually returned.

Passengers even left about 4500 notebooks behind. Not surprisingly, these expensive devices were reclaimed at the highest rate--about 80 percent.

Of course, many items get left in cabs. Surveyed drivers reported forgotten condoms topping the list; however, pets, undergarments, knives, and luggage were in the running, too. British drivers turned in a harp, a throne, more than $150,000 in diamonds, and a baby.

Nationwide Predicament

Misplaced electronic devices are a problem in many American cities. In Washington, D.C., the law allows taxi drivers to turn the devices in either to the police or to the District of Columbia's Taxicab Commission. Kimberly Lewis, an attorney with the commission, says that the problem of left-behind electronics is significant.

In one instance, the owner of a lost BlackBerry "was messaging us, and he was doing it in Spanish," Lewis says. "We had somebody who was actually able to respond, so he got it back."

In Washington, as in Chicago, the most frequently lost electronic devices are cell phones, Lewis said; but occasionally passengers leave behind laptops and BlackBerrys.

"Usually, we've found that, with items of that nature, people are pretty quick to call us or call the cab companies," says Lewis.

Lost in the Heartland

Tom Tomoser, operator of Tom Tomoser's Taxi in Omaha, says that even in his smaller city, many cell phones and BlackBerry devices are accidentally forsaken. Tomoser says customers of his independent cab, when sitting in the back seat, often "take the cell phone out and put it in the seat pocket behind the front seat..." Then, he says, the devices drop out of sight and the owners forget about them.

Once riders realize that their precious hardware is missing, Tomoser says, they are so eager to retrieve it that they're willing to compensate him. Once the hackie found himself on the other side of town when his last customer called. "She said, 'turn your meter on and bring me back my phone,'" Tomoser recounted.

Privacy Issues

As electronic devices become more sophisticated and improve their capacity to hold large stashes of personal information, having them--and your precious data--fall into strange hands can be scary.

"One of the things about lost property," says Kenny Bryson, a Washington police officer, "is a lot of it is left up to an honest person to turn it in."

Tomoser in Nebraska says that he doesn't fiddle with the devices left behind. If the phone is off, he will turn it on and keep it with him the front seat. "Usually within an hour or so [the owners will] call it," he says, and he arranges to return it to them or to their hotel if they are from out of town.

With expensive items like notebooks, "It's not like just losing a wallet," says Bryson of the D.C. police. When the Washington police receive electronic devices from taxicab drivers, he says, they try to locate the owners, often by turning the devices on.

"[We] have to be careful," Bryson says, "[we] don't want to go into the private domain of an individual."

Lewis, of the D.C. Taxi Commission, agrees, "We try not to do anything that's invasive," she says, but "it's not like we're pilfering people's things."

Protect and Defend

You can do several things to protect yourself against the loss of a mobile device.

First, evaluate how much personal information you keep on your device and how costly it would be if that information fell into the hands of a criminal. If that cost is higher than the cost of the electronic gear, you should consider protecting it.

In our story "Products for the Paranoid," we evaluate hardware and software options for protecting your data. They include:

* Use password protection: If your mobile electronic device contains sensitive information, protect it by using a password or even a fingerprint reader. Keep in mind, however, that your likelihood of retrieving a lost device will diminish if those who find it can't use it to access your contact information. * Back up: If you decide to password-protect your device, ita??s less likely that the device will be returned. It then becomes vital to make a copy of the information contained on it. That way no one can access your personal information, but you will be able to replace your valuable data.

And here are some tips for traveling by taxi with electronic gear:

* Look before you leave: Clearly, the best way to protect yourself from losing a cell phone or laptop is to make it a habit to check the back seat and the floor every time you exit a taxi. At the same time, it can never hurt to check your pockets, or your purse, to make sure all your devices are there. * Get a receipt, every time: A receipt for your fare contains a lot more than just how much you spent. Often, receipts contain the name of the taxi driver and the cab number. If you happen to leave something behind, having a receipt of your transaction will make it much easier to track down your device. * Avoid the seat pocket: Don't put your device in the pocket on the back of the front seat or on the seat next to you. Leaving it in a concealed location makes it easier to forget. Also, don't leave items on the top of a taxicab when you are paying your fare. * Don't let yourself get distracted: Try to not to talk on the phone while you are exiting a taxicab. If you are preoccupied, you won't remember to check for all your belongings before you leave.

If you do leave an item, call both the cab company and (if possible) the device itself. Arrange with the driver to have it delivered to you or to your hotel. Don't forget to tip!