Home Secretary Requests Fingerprint-Activated iPods

John Reid, Home Secretary, has called upon tech manufacturers to improve the security on their gadgets to help with his recent push to frustrate criminals. Inviting Apple, Sony, and several others to his crime fighting summit Reid hopes to attack the rising robbery numbers in the most recent Home Office figures.

Comments

Obligatory "In communist Russia"

[kiyoshilionz]

In communist Russia, phones steal YOU!

Re:Useless

[Rakishi]

Sure there is, encryption is one example.

Perhaps they should allow self-defence instead

[Grishnakh]

This whole robbery problem in the UK is a result of their strict anti-self-defence stance (I'm spelling "defence" in the British way since the article's about Britain).

This is a country where, if someone breaks into your house, you could go to prison for using any force against them instead of just cowering and pleading for your lives. Criminals' rights are sacrosanct in the UK. With a worldview like that, how could one expect anything different from the current situation, where criminals run around and commit their crimes with impunity?

In many (most?) states in the USA, a person attempting to rob someone is liable to be shot, thanks to concealed-carry firearms laws, and laws that put the burden of proof on the prosecution to prove that the victim did not fear for his life. Any would-be ipod thieves are gambling with their very lives, not just the remote chance of a short prison term. Consequently, street robbery like this is actually quite rare. When it happens, it's usually in cities such as Chicago, where the victims are not armed by law, and the courts are rather unfriendly to those who defend themselves.

Stupid, Stupid and at the sme time very British.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi Folks;

Let me just say that Britain has gone downhill of late almost in direct response to their very stringent gun control laws that basically disarmed every Britain. The problem is this criminals will attack things and people that the think will require the least effort and the slightest risk.

It is no surprise that crime as a whole is on the increase in Britain when the common man has not an easy method of terminating the miscreants that seem to develop in every community. The right to protect self and property is fundamental to keeping good community order. Darwin was right and in this sense the less functional in society need constant pruning for good public order.

Dave