Government calls for device makers to add anti-theft measures

Home secretary John Reid wants hardware manufacturers to follow mobile phone industry's lead

Home Secretary John Reid wants to work with hardware makers to reduce the chance of device theft.

In an interview with Andrew Marr on the BBC’s Sunday AM, Reid was quizzed on street robberies and in particular his advice to people carrying devices.

“If I had one piece of advice it actually wouldn't be to young people, it would be to the manufacturers,” Reid said. “And that is: help us to design in-features which reduce crime. Let me give you an example. We now have an agreement with the service providers for mobile phone that means that within two days of it being stolen the phone is switched off. Not just the SIM card, but the phone. That knocks the bottom out of the market because if people steal these phones increasingly they recognise they can't sell them.”

Reid claimed phone theft had been reduced by “about 35 percent” and suggested a similar effort could protect other devices.

“New technology, lifestyle changes, new commodities, new gadgets, mean that the criminals continually move on,” argued Reid. “So when we defeat them on mobile phones they move on to sat-navs, they move on to iPods. And there's a new generation which brings together the qualities and characteristics of an iPod with a mobile phone.”

Reid also called for buyers to pressure manufacturers into adding protective features.

“[They should] join with us and others in saying to the manufacturers that [protective features] should be as important an element in the future gadgets that you're producing as the quality of the camera or the variety of the call tones, or any other feature.”

Experts say that other measures include encrypting data, multi-factor authentication and physical security such as locks can help.