Something to give you confidence in the Government ...

... and its ability to deal with on-line pedophiles. This quote from the Home Office displays an almost total lack of understanding of how the internet works.

"The home secretary also wants to look at whether it is technologically feasible to set up a system where if someone enters a chatroom with an identity that was already listed on the [sex offenders] register, it would 'ping' an alert on the relevant people's computers, enabling them to take appropriate action," he added.

Which chat rooms? How are the suspect ids being distributed? Should all chat room providers have an extra check box on sign in 'I am am on the sex offenders register'? How many popular chat rooms are run under the jurisdiction of UK law anyway? It's just empty words to make people think something is being done. I don't know if there are any serous and effective technical answers to this problem, but I can tell at a glance that this isn't one.