John Reid set to battle gadget crime

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We all want the latest gadgets – and that includes street criminals, according to recent crime figures, which shows recorded street robbery up 8% to 26,600 in the last quarter of 2006.

That’s alerted the UK government, with Home Secretary John Reid believing all high-profile gadgets should feature some kind of anti-crime system. Speaking to the BBC, he asked leading technology companies to “help us to design in features which reduce crimes.”

To back up his argument, he highlighted the action of mobile phone operators disabling handsets within two days of a theft – making them less desirable. But that’s just moved the crime along – to sat nav systems and iPods.

A Home Office spokeswoman said Mr Reid was inviting manufacturers to a meeting to discuss the best way of moving forward. But is it really a practical request? Are you willing to pay more for theft-proof gadgets? Or is being sensible with your gadgets the way forward?

Let us know.

Home Office website

Dave Walker
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