When someone steals your smartphone, it’s not just the lost of property and the monetary loss that comes with having to replace it with a new one. It’s also the fact that the thief potentially has a pretty damn good look at your life, the places you’ve been, the people you chat with, the photos and videos you’ve taken, and so on.
This was a realization that came to Anthony van der Meer when his smartphone got stolen. It also inspired him to try and reverse the roles, but not by stealing a smartphone, but by getting a thief to purposely steal his new smartphone that came with spyware preinstalled on it. The end result is a rather fascinating documentary titled, “Find my Phone”.
According to van der Meer, “After my phone got stolen, I quickly realized just how much of my personal information and data the thief had instantly obtained. So, I let another phone get stolen. This time my phone was pre-programmed with spyware so I could keep tabs on the thief in order to get to know him. However, to what extent is it possible to truly get to know someone by going through the content of their phone?”
Thanks to the spyware installed, van der Meer managed to see what the thief was up to, like the contacts he added, the messages he sent, and he even managed to spy on the thief through his smartphone’s camera. There have been some discrepancies pointed out in the video, but van der Meer attempts to answer them in his comments, but in any case it is still a rather interesting watch so if you have some time to spare, check it out in the video above.