The Weekly Round-Up: 24.11.06

What is the world coming to? It used to be the case that the decent law abiding citizens of the UK could get caught speeding and be able to provide a false name and address, possibly even backed up by some false documents, forged driving licence and illegal number plates… and get away scot-free.

But now it seems the over-officious police seem intent on closing that loophole by fingerprinting drivers at the roadside in an attempt to better ascertain whether they are who they don't say they are.

Officers are being given nifty wireless gadgets which will take the fingerprints and then transmit them back to be matched against the national fingerprint database.

The police claim this could greatly reduce the need for lengthy trips back to the station in some cases and it will also help them identify people already on the database.

Of course even among the law-abiding majority of Brits this news has created a stir, as it seems speeding is seen as something of a birth right.

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One silicon.com reader wrote: "Heading towards a police state, cameras everywhere you turn, now fingerprint checking because you've done 31mph. What next, phone tapping because you've not paid the bill? In fact why not change Great Britain to Russia?"

Why not indeed, except 'Russia' is already taken and changing names now might confuse a lot of people.

Other readers expressed similar concerns of this creeping 'police state' coming into force by stealth, while some raised concerns about the police's ability to secure all this data which is flying around.

Now come on, you might not like it but this is the Great British police force we're talking about. If anybody can be trusted to ensure data is kept secure it's the police.

Moving on, news broke this week that three laptops have been stolen from the Metropolitan Police force's payroll partner LogicaCMG, containing information on 15,000 members of the force.

The laptops were swiped from LogicaCMG South London offices and the IT services partner is claiming the theft, which was discovered late last week, was most likely the work of opportunists rather than a targeted theft.

And the Met Police added it has conducted a full risk assessment and determined that those staff affected face no real risk of ID theft.

A statement from the Met said: "We believe the risk of staff members falling victim to either fraudulent activity or identity theft is minimal."

That's "minimal".

And despite these assurances, members of the force may still have some concerns, of course, so a helpline has been set up for police officers who may still be worried about some personal details - such as their home address, perhaps - being at large within London's criminal fraternity.

So far the Met has declined to state whether the data on the laptops was encrypted and as a precaution the force has consulted payment industry association Apacs - as well credit rating agencies and Cifas, the UK's fraud prevention service - just in case.

Likewise LogicaCMG declined to answer questions on whether certain security procedures had been put in place, such as encrypting the data or ensuring the data could be destroyed remotely. But let's face it, there are hundreds of reasons why LogicaCMG wouldn't offer that information to fact-hungry journalists - only one of which is 'no, those procedures weren't in place'.

So let's not jump to any conclusions here.

And in case any of this sounds at all gloomy, the good news is that one man has been arrested in connection with the laptop thefts and is 'helping police with their enquiries'. (Either that or he's helping them with their tax returns and pensions.)

Also on a positive note, LogicaCMG has offered a full apology to the Met Police commissioner, so everything's OK. (Come on, they apologised - what more could you want?)

The Round-Up knows it is being slightly churlish and unfair here but it also can't help noticing the one arrest made so far seems to be the result of a more concerted effort on the part of the police than the Round-Up witnessed when reporting the theft of its own laptop recently.

The Round-Up wonders what it was about the theft of these laptops in particular that made the Met spring into action, rather than shrug its collective shoulders with an air that says: 'A laptop? Well good luck ever seeing that again.'

For the record, as we're sure somebody will ask, the Round-Up's laptop contained no sensitive data, bar some very strong clues as to the true identity of the Round-Up. This is, of course, a secret shrouded in mystery, though regular readers may remember the famous Ben Nevis photo of 2004 - one of the few sightings of the Round-Up ever captured on camera.

(Now move along now, that picture isn't actually this week's caption competition - you'll have to read on for that.)

Returning to the debate about the rise of a 'Big Brother' society in the UK, those fearful of the motives of the powers-that-be may feel even more uneasy at news this week that CCTV may soon not only see what you're up to, it could hear as well.

The UK police are looking at technology being trialled in the Netherlands which uses microphone-enabled cameras to record sound as well as pictures. This feeds into analytical software which can apparently differentiate between the usual hustle and bustle of city life and the growing volume, or occasional shrieks, of some form of civil disturbance.

For example, if two groups of football fans were to gather in a location and begin hurling abuse (as a precursor to chairs and bottles) at one another the system will record the pictures and also detect the increase in volume meaning it will be able to flag up the situation.

Apparently this will enable police to intervene before more serious crimes are committed.

Which is all starting to sound a little bit Minority Report.

So be careful what you say. The lampposts have ears.

And, in a Round-Up which is fast becoming a State of the Nation address, a curious British trait struck the Round-Up this week upon receiving an email on behalf of the national lottery organiser Camelot.

It seems last weekend a record number of players entered the Euro Millions draw via the national lottery website. Why? Because the jackpot had reached a staggering £123m.

Now the Round-Up isn't a gambling man - and that stretches as far as not playing the lottery - but it still seems odd that people who do play only get involved - or get involved to a greater degree - when the jackpot reaches the triple digit millions.

The run of the mill, boring old £10m or so clearly is no motivation anymore.

"What's the jackpot?" these apathetic souls clearly ask. "If it's only £10m you can stick it…

"What's that you say, it's £123m? Oh go on then, I'll give it a go."

And £123m would certainly take the pain out of Christmas.

Speaking of which, how are you getting on with your Christmas shopping? The Round-Up asks because according to one consumer advice group, today - 24 November - is the last day to place orders for goods online if you want to guarantee delivery.

This is based on problems in past years when many consumers have been left disappointed by some well-known online retailers, despite placing orders well before the last day stated for guaranteed delivery.

Take our poll and let us know how you're getting on.

One of the big stories of the Christmas shopping season is undoubtedly around the pitched battle being fought stateside by rival games console manufacturers Sony and Nintendo.

Nintendo has released its Wii (pronounced 'wee' - ho-ho) and Sony has released the PlayStation 3.

Cue the madness.

Among the worst stories to come out of the frenzy for these consoles is news of a multiple shooting outside a US store where gamers were queuing up to buy their PS3.

Other crimes to befall these people waiting in line include a spate of muggings as criminals put two and two together and came up with the obvious conclusion that a long queue of people all waiting to buy a $500 games console may well have some money on them.

Oh dear.

And when PlayStation fans aren't being made to forcibly hand over their cash some are doing so accidentally, thanks to a raft of scams which have sprung up on eBay.

For example, imagine the disappointment for one eBay member who opened his delivery to discover he had won the bidding for three of the original Sony PlayStations, rather than a PlayStation 3 thanks to a less than sporting description of the lot.

It seems it was a case of PlayStations (3), rather than PlayStation 3 - and it cost the poor dupe who fell for it $900.

Another eBay member claims to have 'built' a PlayStation 3 - according to the rules of junior school mathematics, by gaffer taping together a PlayStation 1 and a PlayStation 2 - thus creating a PlayStation 3… of sorts. However, the accompanying picture for this horrific Chimera clearly betrays the methodology employed - so there's no suspicion of dishonesty.

Meanwhile Times Square in New York saw scenes of chaos as thousands of shoppers queued for a Wii.

Frankly the Round-Up would have gone before it left the house. Boom-boom.

And finally, it will come as a surprise to nobody to hear that we've reached the part of the Weekly Round-Up where this week's caption competition is introduced.

It seems these competitions have become a popular part of many readers' Fridays, so who are we to stand in the way of your enjoyment.

And while we hold our hands up and admit last week's picture wasn't the best, though we're still baffled as to how we could ever go wrong with a pic of Steve Ballmer doing, well, anything, hopefully this week's picture will give you a little more scope for creativity.

Better still (for us), from a legal perspective it doesn't feature anybody who can be recognised, libelled or in any way defamed - which is a bonus, given the vast number of comments that couldn't be published last time.

However, there were some that were fit to print - and you can find out who the lucky winner is here, as well as reading some of the best of the rest.

And let's see a big effort this week… once again the prize is a bottle of bubbly, so get those creative juices flowing…

• Text reminders for doctors' appointments
• IT workers always on the prowl
• No cheap alcohol to be sold online
• Cambridge boffins unveil Dell supercomputer
• James Bond beaten by pirates