Information Security News: Thieves take laptop with Smith photos

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070420/NEWS01/704200371/1002/NEWS01

By Alan J. Keays 
Herald Staff 
April 20, 2007

The head of Edgewood Studios in Rutland is looking for the return of a 
stolen laptop containing some valuable information, including unreleased 
images of Anna Nicole Smith, the star of his most recent film.

"There are photographs in there that are not to be released," Giancola 
said Thursday afternoon in a phone interview from the offices of his 
Rutland-based movie production studio. "There is stuff that we have that 
is just not cleared for release."

Police said burglars early Thursday broke into Edgewood Studios, at Howe 
Center, a large complex of offices and businesses just outside Rutland's 
downtown. Several other businesses in the complex were also burglarized.

Police have made no arrest. Although the thieves did not steal all that 
much from his studio, the laptop contained a great deal of "proprietary 
material," including future movie scripts, plot lines, phone numbers and 
e-mail addresses, Giancola said.

The laptop also contained unreleased photos of Smith, who before her 
death of a drug overdose in February played a starring a role in the 
studio's soon-to-be-released movie, "Illegal Aliens."

"We're trying to find the laptop because it has material that has 
proprietary information to Edgewood Studios," Giancola said. "We're 
really hoping to get that laptop back because of the copyrighted 
material that was on it."

"Illegal Aliens" is set to be released on DVD next month. The movie, 
filmed in September 2005 in Rutland, has generated international 
interest following the media attention that accompanied Smith's death.

"What we're most concerned about is 'Illegal Aliens' kind of stuff, and 
that movie is not being released until May 1," Giancola said. "There's 
another movie called 'Zombie Town' and that movie's not going to be 
released probably until Halloween and there's material from that on (the 
laptop) and we don't want that out there, either."

Surveillance video suggested the burglars did not target the laptop for 
theft because of its connection to Smith.

Instead, Giancola said, it appeared the burglars were on a "drunken 
rampage," smashing the front door and two inside doors at the studio.

Giancola said the value of the stolen items and the cost of repairing 
damage would amount to a couple of thousand dollars. However, he said, a 
dollar amount cannot be placed on the value of the "proprietary 
material" that was on the stolen laptop, including the Smith photos.

"The intellectual property is way more valuable than any of the physical 
equipment we have," Giancola said.


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