Computer Intelligence
Well I wish you could have shared the joys of an afternoon at Swanwick.
The super brain mega-computer started to allocate 7000 transponder codes to lots of pending flight plans. The system has a feature called "auto-DM" which basically means that when an aircraft gets airborne and is showing the assigned code the computer will recognise the code and automatically activate the flight plan, and also attach the callsign label to the target.
There are safety parameters built in, but not against the set of circumstances that occurred to-day. Whenever an aircraft showing a 7000 code [ correctly that is!] flew close to an airfield that had one of these peculiar 7000 codes allocated to a pending flight plan.........you've guessed.... plan activates and little VFR Cessna wears SSR label of some airliner or other; not only that but every down-line sector gets a strip on an aircraft that hasn't taken off. Human skills saved the day!!!!!!