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Irrigation Controller Stolen, Wirelessly Rescues Itself
Posted by
kdawson
on Fri Jul 04, 2008 07:46 AM
from the visionary-solutions-to-water-management-through-technology dept.
from the visionary-solutions-to-water-management-through-technology dept.
wooferhound sends along an amusing piece about thieves who got run over by technology and never knew what hit them. "A Rain Master Eagle-i Irrigation Controller recently stolen out of a housing development just outside of Tucson traveled nearly 80 miles before rescuing itself. The smart controller is now back in place on the wall where it was originally pinched... In this day and age, something that may look passive like an irrigation controller may not be so passive. The thieves didn't realize they were removing equipment that features 2-way wireless communications via the Internet. Three weeks later, the unexpected happened. The Maintenance Supervisor noticed a signal coming in from the stolen controller. He thought it was kind of odd that it was up and running... Whoever had stolen it had plugged it back in."
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Electronic Timer (Score:4, Funny)
Phoned home.
Belthize
Product Info (Score:5, Informative)
For those who are wondering WTF this thing is, here's the product page. [rainmaster.com]
"The RME Eagle combines evapotranspiration (ET) technology with its already intelligent design providing a variety of ET-based scheduling features that will reduce water usage, save time and money, and optimize the efficiency of water resource allocation for any irrigation application. Additionally, an optional communication card provides central control capabilities via The Internet!
"The "RME Eagle" can measure flow and take corrective action for station breaks, main line failures, or unscheduled flow. It supports either normally open or normally closed master valve operation, pump operations independent of the master valve, cycle and soak or conventional programming, and a flow totalizer to monitor total water used. The "Eagle" watches your prestigious landscapes 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, providing insurance and protection from catastrophic field related failures."
All it doesn't do is yell at the kids to get off your lawn.
Will be expected soon (Score:5, Funny)
Any electronic device that cost several thousand dollars will be expected to be wireless and have GPS. You'll be able to login and check to see that your air conditioner, refrigerator and water heater are still at your house.
Instead of being caught with incriminating lock picks and bolt cutters, crooks will have their anti-GPS and anti-wireless equipment trip them up.
Re:Will be expected soon (Score:5, Funny)
And for devices under several thousand dollars, i'll make a fortune selling fake antennas and stickers that say "this device is protected by gps and will alert the authorities if it is moved", and "smile for the camera" :)
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Re:Will be expected soon (Score:4, Interesting)
And for devices under several thousand dollars, i'll make a fortune selling fake antennas and stickers that say "this device is protected by gps and will alert the authorities if it is moved", and "smile for the camera" :)
Actually, that's not a great idea. At least down here (and if this flies in Texas I'm sure it flies everywhere in the US), you can be held seriously liable for claiming that you have surveillance video when you don't, if a crime occurs on your property. It may sound odd, but it actually makes sense, since businesses were basically creating a false sense of security for their customers.
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Re:Will be expected soon (Score:5, Funny)
Ah. You need one of my other stickers then... try one of the following:
"These labels were not placed here by the owner of this equipment"
"By reading this label, you agree not to bring any action against the owner of this equipment for any claims, false or otherwise, made by this or any other label on this equipment."
"This label and any others attached to this equipment is void in Texas and any other state with stupid laws."
"this device is not protected by gps and will not alert the authorities if it is moved"
"smile for the fake camera"
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I think you're missing the point; first of all, civilly liable is not the same thing as criminally liable, so it's not "illegal." And you're only going to be civilly liable in circumstances where there's some sort of duty existing between the person wh
Re:Will be expected soon (Score:4, Informative)
Well the difference if the fake camera was not there is that the tenant would not have relied on it in that case. Anyway to show negligence you have to show a duty existed, the defendant breached that duty, the breach was a proximate (which doesn't mean only) cause of the injury, and the injury caused damage to the plaintiff. The law mandates that landlords take a reasonable effort to ensure the safety of their residents. In a high crime area, a fake camera might not be considered "reasonable," especially if a similar crime happened before and the fake camera didn't do anything to prevent it.
You can't just open up a building, advertise for tenants, and then assume your sole job is to collect the rent.
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Re:Will be expected soon (Score:4, Insightful)
I think the idea is sort of like the laws against false advertising. If I'm in trouble and run to where I've 'seen' a camera, so actions against me can be witnessed, I'd be pissed if it turned out to be fake and there's no video evidence of my being assaulted.
But, approach it from a different angle - the very appearance of security cameras deters crime, maybe. On the other hand, odds are fake cameras will eventually be found out, then the public will be operating on a false sense of security. Not good.
Oh, and going by crime statistics, the cameras in London don't do much good - you're worse off than NYC! I've read that cameras, at most, shifted crimes. Many times the perp would commit the crime right in front of the camera counting on the fact that a random cop or victim looking at the camera isn't going to be able to identify him - there's just too many faces. Thus the push for face recognition software. Then that gives you hurdle 2- you now know who perp Y is, but now you need to find out where he's living this week and actually send an officer around to arrest him. Police departments everywhere seem to fall down a lot on the second one. As studies have shown, actually following through(even if you 'don't have enough resources') tends to disproportionately reduce crime - after all, that purse snatcher, burgler, or mugger is very likely have committed crimes in the past, and commit more in the future if he's not caught and subjected to an effective correction*.
*Chosen over punishment. I don't care as much about the retribution portion as the 'make sure they aren't going to do it again'.
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Stupid phony alarm signs (Score:3, Informative)
Phony alarm signs are just stupid. A few years back, I was walking by a house near me and saw water coming out of the garage, down the driveway, and into the gutter. Nobody answered the door. They had a big sign for an alarm company, so I called the number on the sign. The alarm company told me they'd never had service there. One window had a sticker for a different alarm company. That, too, was phony. They even had a "Protected by ELECTRONIC alarm system" sticker, the one you can buy at Radio Shack.
Medical devices will be wireless soon too... (Score:5, Funny)
Say for instance your grandfather has a pacemaker with wireless.
$>ping grandpa
No Host Found.
Oh no, GRANDPA!!!!
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New twist on old theme (Score:4, Funny)
Brings a new twist on the old "Is your refrigerator running?" prank call:
"Running? Let me check... why yes, about 30MPH it seems on 6th avenue. Thanks for the heads up!"
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I like the thought of this (Score:3, Insightful)
Thieves will now have to block the antennae of their purloined plunder. But how's this for an idea: geo-locking hardware like this? "Here's your GPS coordinates. Stray outside of this area, you stop working." Thieves will soon learn that taking something like this will brick it.
I also like the idea of equipping cars with wireless stuff like this. The owner reports it missing, the car starts reporting its location to the cops and they can nab the perps.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Satnavs already do this. Turn the device on, enter the PIN. If you don't know the PIN, you can't use the device. If you forget the PIN, you can reset it, but only at the device's home location.
Re: (Score:2)
They already do. Most traffic police cars in the UK now have a device that can home in on a stolen vehicle that's transmitting it's location, allowing them to track it down again.
Re: (Score:2)
This sort of risk should be mitigated with insurance, not technology. The insurance industry is well placed to figure out what kind of technology actually works and which doesn't.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
"Here's your GPS coordinates. Stray outside of this area, you stop working."
Shopping carts at some of the supermarkets around here work kinda like that. They have some kind of invisible fence thing around the perimeter of the parking lot, and if you cross it with one of the store's shopping carts, the wheels lock up.
Like a previous reply to you mentioned, some GPS units do this... unless they are powered on in the 'home location' they require a PIN.
I also like the idea of equipping cars with wireless stuff
Re:I like the thought of this (Score:5, Funny)
Nothing to worry aboot.
Bubbles will just get Julian and Ricky to shoot the wheels out of that dirty cocksucker.
Parent
They can just remove the battery or hit the reset (Score:3, Interesting)
They can just remove the battery or hit the reset switch to remove the Wireless reporting.
GRM? (Score:3, Interesting)
GRM...Geographic Rights Management.
I would have gotten even first (Score:5, Funny)
never ceases to amaze me (Score:5, Insightful)
how they will visually identify the stolen property, call it in, and then leave and expect it to just stay there until they get back with more badges.
I've read about this scenario repeatedly, though this is the first time I've heard of it being voluntarily returned later. Being that stupid about it they didn't deserve to get it back.
Putting on the "wild speculation" hat, I'd say that since they were obviously tipped off, that it was likely whoever was sent out to identify the item was told to leave by his commanding officer, who then tipped them off "we're coming back in 30 minutes and it better not be there when we return". Gotta love how things like that work in rural towns. Any competent law enforcement would have left the stolen property under observation until the badges showed up.
Re: (Score:2)
how they will visually identify the stolen property, call it in, and then leave and expect it to just stay there until they get back with more badges.
I guess that they actually waited to get a warrant for entering the property. The only evidence that they had was that some dude said that the controller was his, that's not enough to make probable cause [wikipedia.org], IMO.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
This sounded like a rural county law enforcement division. These guys often have very limited resources - sometimes only a few officers for an entire county. Tying one person down to keep an eye on a few thousand dollars of stolen merchandise seems like a pretty poor decision, IMO.
For that matter, its entirely possible that someone noticed the cop getting close and panicked. Or, as you say, was
Where's Scooby Doo? (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You can expect this kind of quality detective work from any police department. This is why Justice wields a sword and not a scalpel.
Someone knew they were coming (Score:3, Insightful)
What concerns me is that someone knew the police were coming for the unit. This was almost a petty theft case, sure significant to some but not really a major crime issue.
What if it were a more serious case? The police here should be really concerned about their information leaks and integrity of their investigation system.
Yeah, but (In all Seriousness) (Score:2)
does it run Linux?
PR fluff piece by an evil company (Score:5, Interesting)
Stolen equipment gets recovered via cell phone signals all them time. The whole thing sounds like a PR fluff piece.
The real tidbit of interest here is this:
Smart controller 'internet' technology, first patented in 2003 by Rain Master, automatically adjusts water usage via a 2-way wireless communication system.
The company has a patent on controlling the sprinkler system remotely. This kind of patent is stupid and evil.
Re:PR fluff piece by an evil company (Score:4, Insightful)
The company has a patent on controlling the sprinkler system remotely. This kind of patent is stupid and evil.
You're only jealous because you didn't have the idea of taking out a patent on remotely controlling a sprinkler system by means of a manually operated rotary or other valve within the fluid delivery system at a position other than the sprinkler apparatus itself (=a tap at the other end of the hosepipe).
Parent
ad (Score:4, Insightful)
Anyone else read the article and thought it smells a lot like it was written by the PR department of the company that manufactures those things? Lots and lots of talks about the great and unique features of the device, very little details on the alleged crime.
If this were ZiiTrend, I'd vote 70:30 that the story is fake and PR.
Viral Marketing (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm surprised I only saw about one other comment pointing out that this whole thing is most likely fake. At best, it was a real story that was published by marketing department for the parent company.
I hope it was at least something real that they chose to embellish and propagate. In either case, it all feels rather sleazy.
If you have doubts - read the story again and notice how many times the article has to mention the company that makes it by name, and how often they have to tout the various features of the device.
Small World, x2 (Score:3, Informative)
I lived in Continental Ranch for 5 years in the late '90's. The developer previously used solar panels to power the irrigation controllers for the common areas, but most (panels and controllers) were stolen by the time I moved on. I moved to CR from Simi Valley. I had no idea Rain Bird had a plant there. Prolly after my time.
BTW, belated kudos to thousands of screwed senior citizens for the fine Continental Ranch flood control system Charles Keating [wikipedia.org] built with your nest eggs, before his house of cards fell down.
Re: (Score:2)
Or what is so magical about it that someone would actually buy one, and secondly, steal one?
It's worth something and can be stolen with practically zero risk of being caught (or at least the crooks thought so).
Re:huh? (Score:5, Informative)
Can someone tell me why this is interent enabled?
From TFA: We're able to do the programming and communicate to the controllers through our laptops or Blackberries ...
Sounds pretty useful in a production environment..
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Re:huh? (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:huh? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Why don't grow lawns in the desert? They provide a vital function of producing oxygen, cleaning the air, lowering the heat island effect and are often areas used to recharge underground aquifers. Having a lawn in the desert is good for everyone.
Re:huh? (Score:4, Interesting)
Implanting the growing green stuff where it was not before could be beneficial for everyone indeed. The only problem is that the type of green that maybe beneficial in such places is not good on the golf field for instance.
While I am here - anybody else think TFA looks like commercial? I wonder also what internet has to do with the mobile network positioning systems that actually detected the 'stolen' item. Only I wonder how 'stolen' it really was as it moved back miraculously after a while.
TFA offers also insights into how police should not work I suppose - OTOH they achieved the goal of getting the stuff back without involving expensive judiciary etc so maybe it made sense to do it that way?
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Microcontrollers are only starting to reach the sort of scale that this kind of functionality can be cheaply tacked onto anything, it's the start of true ubiquitous computing.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Sounds like these controllers are even smarter than that. Sounds like it can download weather reports, be hooked to remote sensors, etc, and run in open and closed control loops with this data.
Now, I'm not sure how smart all these adaptive features are, but ideally, this would mean the remote management would be more for monitoring, than managing . . . sounds pretty slick, especially for large installations (think city's with lots of parks).
Re:huh? (Score:5, Interesting)
"The controller receives weather information on a daily basis and then sends commands to watering mechanisms to reflect the weather change. "
This is an interesting resource for arid areas that have shrinking water resources.
Parent
Re:huh? (Score:5, Interesting)
Not just for those areas. For anywhere. It's a shame that water shortages were needed to force people to design systems that are smart. Here they still have to put up signs to warn people not to water during winter storms! All that ice on the road is apparently dangerous.
There are lots of things that would benefit from some kind of additional smart control. Personally, I'd like a few more items in my house to be remotely operable, and thus also be able to alert me remotely of changing circumstances. I use Alarm.com and get an x-10 interface there, but I think there is much more that we can do. I'd like to know if the socket in the bathroom is still drawing electricity after I've left for work. That means my wife has left her hair appliance machinery plugged in etc.
Smart electrical outlets could tell us things like increased current use over time for appliances like your fridge or pc etc. It's amazing what a billion points of tiny data per month can tell you about life. I'd like to see that.
This topic needs as much thought and discussion as data center power conservation does.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually there is a very good competition. X10 was just first out of the gate. Try http://www.zigbee.org/en/index.asp [zigbee.org]
Apparently, I have more time to type a response? No, they were not forced, and the processor probably is an ARM processor or similar. This particular manufacturer makes some cool toys, I have one of their systems installed. Zigbee is definitely better than X10, and you should see it in more appliances soon.
Imagine your next new house, where the light switches are electronic remotes for the ac
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Look, if you live in an area where there is shrinking water resources and generally arid conditions there is one simple solution:
Move to Vancouver.
We have lots of water falling from the sky, all the time.
If you get nostalgic for the desert just drive 4 hours to Kamloops and you'll be back amongst the sagebrush.
Easy (Score:2)
Irrigation may require placing a lot of these in the field, and sending someone around to check and see if they are functioning properly is pretty expensive. Plus, it makes reprogramming the water flow much easier when it can be centralized. Couple that with some moisture sensors and the resulting data can allow for the optimal planning of irrigation patterns to maximize yield and minimize wasted water.
Using the net makes sense too. It is a lot less costly than pulling wires to all of these devices or se
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
It's not at all that simple. There are probably an array of moisture sensors in the field that provide data to the closed loop controller, which in turn controls an array of valves to various irrigation rigs. A PLC or PID controller like this probably costs on the order of $10K and may interface with a product like ExperionPKS or other supervisory DCS platform.
Re: (Score:2)
It's only one click to RTFA :-(
QUOTE:
We're able to do the programming and communicate to the controllers through our laptops or Blackberries," said Glen Killmer, a branch manager for The Groundskeeper who is in charge of the Continental's acreage. 'This particular controller had stopped communicating."
A Groundskeeper irrigation technician sent to the site discovered that the piece of equipment, worth several thousand dollars, had disappeared.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Sort of. If it wasn't for the controller automatically initiating a call, the cell tower or whoever wouldn't have been able to do anything.
You might chalk this up in the same sense that a passing motorist who witnesses an accident and phones for help saving the occupants of the car because of the efficient arrival of rescuers. Sure the person who phones in didn't do anything to stop the bleeding or keep the drivers heart beating but getting people who could do that there fast enough could have played a sign