Laptop theft can affect users in more than one way. Not only do you lose your (undoubtedly not cheap) portable computer, you also lose all of the data on it. Of course, backing up ensures that it's not actually lost to you, but what about the person who has the laptop? Your electronic tax returns, embarrassing videos of yourself singing and dancing to N'Sync songs, and salacious e-mails are all somewhere out there, out of your control. (I once came into the possession of a laptop that was lost at O'Hare and never claimed, and found all sorts of e-mails on it from the owner who apparently cheated on his wife whenever he traveled. True story.)

Intel hopes to reduce that level of embarrassment (and more importantly, identity theft) by introducing Intel Anti-Theft Technology (ATT) later this year. The technology would involve placing a chip in the machine that would prevent it from booting without the owner's permission, Intel Mobility Group chief Dadi Perlmutter told The Register, although he declined to go into much more detail. He also indicated that ATT might one day incorporate tracking technology so that users might eventually be able to get their hardware back.

Intel isn't working on this initiative alone, though. In fact, a number of third parties announced today that they were partnering up with Intel to support ATT, such as Absolute Software Corporation (creators of firmware-based data protection/tracking solutions), BIOS maker Phoenix, and Utimaco (a data security company), to name a few. Intel also says that McAfee is on board, as well as manufacturers like Lenovo and Fujitsu.

ATT differs from current disk encryption technology because it would render the laptop useless, even if the hard drive is replaced. While this may not help the victim get the laptop back (unless it involves the aforementioned tracking technology), if widely adopted, ATT could deter thieves from stealing laptops in the first place if all they would end up with is an inoperable chunk of plastic and metal. Of course, if users want their data to be secure and for the laptop to be unbootable, it's probably wise to employ both ATT and some sort of disk encryption technology, in case the hard drive is removed and placed in another machine.

We (and the Register) don't expect to see ATT available to consumers soon, though. Perlmutter apparently said that it won't be available until at least the fourth quarter of the year, and it will take longer than that for manufacturers to incorporate it into their products. Still, as laptop sales increase, laptop theft is likely to as well. If the technology works well, then hopefully thieves will eventually learn to look for other, more attractive targets.