AN ELECTRONIC tagging system for domestic appliances that will deter thieves
has been developed by British Telecom鈥檚 research labs at Martlesham in Suffolk.
The system stops your appliances from working if they are plugged into someone
else鈥檚 mains supply.
BT has patented parts of the system, called Smart-Electrics, and expects to
start selling it within two years. 鈥淲e have the determination and the skills to
succeed,鈥� says Stewart Davies, BT鈥檚 director of advanced communications
engineering.
Details of the way the system works are disclosed in the patents. The system
consists of a home control centre connected to a remote operations centre by
modem. New appliances will need a memory chip containing a unique serial number
and a disabling switch, which cannot be bypassed. When the appliance is first
plugged into the mains it sends its serial number as a pulse through the mains
to the control centre in your home, where it is decoded and stored.
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The home centre then automatically sends the stored code by modem to the
remote operations centre. The remote centre identifies the phone number, takes a
note of the serial number and adds it to the list of serial numbers stored in
your home centre.
The appliances continue to work as long as their codes are recognised by the
home centre. But if, for example, a video is stolen and moved to another
building, it cannot handshake with the home centre and the disabling switch
prevents the video from being switched on.
And if a burglar has the bright idea of stealing the home control centre as
well as the video鈥攊t still won鈥檛 work. The home control centre stores its
numbers on volatile memory, so as soon as it is unplugged from the mains all the
numbers are erased. Once plugged back in, its modem dials out to the remote
centre to refresh its memory. But this only works if the remote centre
recognises the phone number it is calling from.
For the burglars, the sting in the tail is that the remote centre records any
unauthorised attempt at refreshing the home centre鈥檚 memory, logs the calling
number, and notifies the police. And if the police recover stolen goods, they
can also log in to the database at the remote centre to check who is the
rightful owner. Anyone who sells the equipment or moves house has to inform the
remote centre of the changes from the known phone line.
Nick Glover of the British Radio and Electronic Equipment Manufacturers鈥�
Association fears that BT鈥檚 system may be too complicated. 鈥淯nless you have a
big neon sign it still won鈥檛 deter burglars who come in the middle of the night
and grab anything that looks expensive,鈥� he warns. BREMA and other European
manufacturers are backing an anti-theft system that allows people to store their
postcodes in electronic appliances. This is now found in fifty major brands of
goods and is used by the police.