Local registries are popping up like crazy

From "Bike Theft Deterrent Hits Web":

Memo to all bike thieves: The Hub is unveiling a new program today that will send out a virtual APB on social networking sites Twitter and Facebook whenever a bicycle is reported stolen in Boston. Bike owners are being asked to log onto a new city Web site, stolenbikesboston.com, to register the make, model, year, color and serial number of their bicycles, and upload pictures.

The site, stolenbikesboston.com, is also doing Twitter integration, which is interesting because I've been watching BikePortland.org's stolen bikes twitter feed for a while and it now has something like 127 followers. Lots of eyes out there looking for people's stolen rides!

At some point in the future I need to sit down and work out a specification that would let all of these various stolen bike registries 'talk' to each other and exchange data. It's going to be a problem if all these various Balkanized registries can't cross-check serial numbers with other websites, since more and more bikes are being shipped out of town for resale.

If I had any extra time on my plate, I'd put together a working group, but for now it'll have to wait. If you're out there and would be interested in working on such a project - especially landing some money to make it happen - drop me a line.