London, Aug 1: Henceforth, burglars would think twice before stealing any electronic equipment, for chances are that the goods they steal are unlikely to work once they leave their original home.

Thomson, a French company claims to have developed a watchdog device that can keep watch over every piece of electronic equipment in a house.

The device consists of a secret code that can be hidden anywhere in the house or inside an apparently ordinary domestic appliance. For the system to work, every electronic gadget in the house would include a circuit that communicates with the watchdog device via electrical pulses sent over the mains system.

When a new piece of equipment is plugged in to the house’s main supply, it would automatically pick up the watchdog code. From then on, every time it is switched on, the device will check whether it can still pick up the code.

According to the company, it will work only if it can pick up the specific code, and if a thief steals any piece of protected equipment it will refuse to work when plugged into a different mains supply.

The company says the only way to beat the system would be to steal the watchdog device too, which means stealing everything that is plugged into the mains, reports New Scientist. (ANI)