Reid calls for summit to fight iPod crime

Home Secretary John Reid is planning a summit of gadget manufacturers, including Apple and Sony, to try and build better security into their products.

Reid is apparently concerned that, while overall crime is falling, street robberies are up eight per cent as iPods and other media players are seen as easy pickings for muggers.

"If I had one piece of advice it would be to ask the manufacturers to design in features which reduce crimes," he told the BBC.

"That knocks the bottom out of the market because, if people steal these phones, increasingly they recognise that they cannot sell them."

Reid is looking for a similar system to the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) system used for mobile phones. When a phone is stolen it can be deactivated the next time it logs onto a network.

However, Reid said that, although the success of IMEI means that muggers are steering clear of phones, they are now moving to media players and satnav equipment.

The IMEI system would not work for media players, since most currently have no way of logging onto a central server.