Burglars have broken into government's digital inclusion
office and stolen the department's computers.
Digital inclusion champion Martha Lane Fox wrote about the
break-in on Twitter, but the information was later removed and the
press office at the Department for Business, Innovation and Trade
said it could not give out any information about the incident.
A spokeswoman said the stolen computers were secure and that the
data on them could not be compromised.
She said, "The police are currently on site investigating the
break-in and we are unable to release exact details on what
happened."
Lane Fox wrote on Twitter early this morning, "O bloody hell the
digital inclusion office has been broken into and all computers
taken."
She later said to her followers, "Hope it wasn't someone wanting
to sabotage our plans for world web domination!"
The digital inclusion office was set up following the
Digital Britain report into the future of the internet and
telecoms in the UK. The report highlighted the problems faced by
those who are unable to access services online and the office works
to increase the proportion of the UK population who are on the
internet.
Lane Fox says that of the 17 million UK citizens who are not
online, six million are "socially and economically vulnerable".
She says on her
website, "With so many
government services now being delivered online, you are at an acute
disadvantage if you are not able to search for health information,
do your CV, look up schools, do your homework or fill in your tax
return via a computer.
"In addition, research shows that net of the cost of the
computer and the connection, people using the web save £276 per
year."
Lane Fox is a co-founder of Lastminute.com and is a
non-executive director at Channel 4 and Marks & Spencer.