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August 9, 2010

BBC staff lose £240k worth of tech gear

Mobiles, laptops and BlackBerry devices go missing

By Steve Evans

The BBC has lost mobile phones and laptops worth £240,000 over the last two years, a Freedom of Information (FoI) request has revealed.

The request, for security firm Absolute Software, revealed that between April 2008 and March this year staff at the BBC reported to loss of 146 laptops, 65 mobile phones and 17 BlackBerry smartphones.

The laptops had a value of £219,000, the mobiles were valued at £12,913, and the BlackBerry handsets totalled £9,106. Items worth just over £20,000 were later recovered, leaving a total cost of £217,569.

One BBC employee was investigated over the theft of a laptop, the FoI request revealed. The corporation could not confirm whether any staff were disciplined for the losses, the Press Association said.

"It is shocking that any organisation could lose so much equipment, but the BBC is just one of many we’ve seen recently, proving it’s all too common," said Dave Everitt, Absolute Software’s European general manager. "In this case, however, this technology is paid for by the licence payer and employees should be far more careful about how they handle it."

A BBC spokesperson said: "The BBC takes theft very seriously and has implemented a number of measures to reduce the level of crime. The portability of laptops and phones means that in any large organisation there is an inevitable risk of theft. The BBC investigation service is involved whenever an allegation of theft is made, and where appropriate the police are informed and prosecutions brought where we can."

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