We've translated at local police stations when people have been victims of theft and we deal with a lot of laptops and PDAs; the number of business travellers who lose them is phenomenal.

Examples abound of databases being stolen: disks full of social-security data go missing, laptops loaded with tax records are left in taxis, credit-card Numbers are stolen from online retailers.

Owners must report their laptop missing by visiting a website, which sends a message to the model: a red and yellow "lost or stolen" sign appears on its screen when it is started.