Mobile crime falls
The number of mobile phone thefts appears to be falling, according to the British Crime Survey. Such thefts make up much of the survey's robbery categorisation, which was down by 23% in the last three months of 2002, compared with a year earlier. The Home Office said these falls were likely to be due to more police work on street crime. However, it hopes that the integrated database of stolen and lost mobiles, making them useless on any UK network, will lead to further falls. Although activated on November 1, the database has been widely publicised only in the past few weeks.
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/hosb503.pdf
www.theguardian.com/online/story/0,3605,889292
Britain ups pace
Britain has slipped two places in the latest edition of an annual global league table of e-government services. But the study's author, management consultancy Accenture, also has good news for e-Envoy Andrew Pinder.
According to the study Canada is the best place for online public administration. It is followed by Singapore and the US, in rankings unchanged from last year. Britain, which last year was number six, is now eighth, behind Finland and Hong Kong. But its rate of progress is twice that of the average, said Steve Dempsey, a partner at Accenture.
The top 10 countries in "overall e-government maturity", are: Canada, also first last year, Singapore (2), USA (3), Denmark (5), Australia (4), Finland (7), Hong Kong (8), UK (6), Belgium (16), Germany (9).
Defence IT project
It's a busy time for the Ministry of Defence. Apart from fighting a war in Iraq, officials are launching the largest IT outsourcing project by the government yet.
The Defence Information Infrastructure contract, expected to cost £4 billion over 10 years, involves replacing more than 100 in-house systems in use by the three armed services and MoD headquarters. The MoD has invited expressions of interest from the world's largest IT services companies to install compatible systems across 1,000 sites, from Whitehall to submarines.
Broadband fees
BT changed things other than its logo and its voice-call pricing this week. It plans to extend ADSL broadband coverage by setting trigger levels for 600 more exchanges, and lengthening the distance from the exchange at which ADSL will work from 3.4 to 3.8 miles.
BT is also reducing its wholesale ADSL charges. However, some ISPs will not pass these savings on. AOL will retain its £27.99 rate while Zen Internet and Plus Net will cut their rates, with Plus Net's lowest charge down £1 to £18.99.
Meanwhile, under a new scheme called Community Broadband, BT says it will install ADSL lines in rural locations providing the community can find a sponsor to help pay for their introduction.
www.btplc.com/Mediacentre/Archivenewsreleases/2003/nr0313.htm
www.plus.net/specialoffer.html
www.zen.co.uk/Default.asp?headlineid=2699
Personal data Plans to allow government departments to share information about citizens have been thrown up into the air again. The Lord Chancellor's Department last week published a consultation paper to test attitudes to the way public agencies handle personal data.
The new consultation comes a year after the prime minister's Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) launched its own consultation on allowing departments to set up data-sharing arrangements in the interests of e-government.
Local authorities are among those urgently awaiting guidance on what information they can exchange between back-office systems.
The consultation paper is available at www.lcd.gov.uk/consult/confr.htm.
The closing date is June 27.
iPass, friend
There are now more than a thousand Wi-Fi "hotspots" that can be accessed using the same universal password system, iPass (www.ipass.com). The company was set up in 1996 to negotiate deals with local internet providers so that business travellers could connect to local services in different countries without opening separate accounts with each one. iPass users can access 30 Wi-Fi hotspots in the UK including Surf and Sip, and 18 Internet Exchange internet cafes.
Pocket fillers
Toshiba has launched two fast Pocket PCs. The e750 Wi-Fi is a high-end machine with a 400MHz processor, built-in Wi-Fi wireless connectivity and large 3.8in TFT colour screen. It also has both Secure Digital (SD) and CompactFlash (CF-II) expansion slots, and can use PC keyboards and screens via an adaptor. It weighs 196g and costs £499 including VAT. The e350 is a slim low-end model with just an SD slot. It weighs less than 150g, and costs £249. It will be available from April 18.
