Can Ipods Be Traced?

This is something I was wondering tonight. If I plug my Ipod in and iTunes is on, of course it recognizes my Ipod by the name I originally put in. But let's say some kid jumped me in the dark and stole it and took it to his home and plugged it in. Would iTunes on his computer recognize it as my Ipod? Or would it simply be a new Ipod as far as his computer was concerned, to which he could give it a new name?

I'm thinking it also goes by whatever its serial number is. Because it seems like when you plug it in the first time it registers it somehow with iTunes. So that if I reported it stolen, they would be able to disable it. I don't know.

But people buy Ipods secondhand. So somehow they need a way to rename it.