Ottakar's move halts source tag push

The push to persuade publishers to embed security tags in books when they are printed has ground to a halt following Ottakar's decision to adopt a different tagging technology from the industry standard.

The initiative, driven by the BA Loss Prevention Consortium in a bid to cut the massive cost of theft, relied on consensus among leading booksellers on which of two main tag types to use.

W H Smith, Borders, Hammicks, HMV, Tesco and Asda are among retailers that backed the adoption of Acousto Magnetic (AM) technology. Ottakar's originally agreed on the AM version of security tags, but changed its strategy and opted for Radio Frequency (RF) tags, which it claimed were more suited to the protection of books.

The BA said the project was now "unlikely" to continue, although there was hope that a new, more sophisticated tag technology called RFID would fall in price.

ADT, the UK's leading supplier of AM technology, said claims that AM tags were unsuitable for books were "misleading and untrue". It added that the technology could "accommodate both wide and restricted [shop] exits, has the lowest incidents of false alarms and can offer the largest selection of tag solutions".