This is actually old story, but for the benefit of those who have not heard it yet .
Did you know that each of the 3.2 million World Cup Tickets is equipped with an RFID tag to scan and monitor each fan upon arrival at the gates of any of the 12 stadiums?
Philips, the supplier of the RFID tags, said the track-and-trace chips embedded in the tickets ensures counterfeiting and for enhanced security measures. Each of these tickets include holder’s name registered upon purchase of the ticket.
That’s intrusion of privacy which may explain how camera man are able to track popular people right away, though we cannot absolutely say they were purchased under their names and cannot determine if these tags and holder’s names are kept in a database — just a thought .
And also, Cord Bartels the business development manager at Philips has assured us that they do not keep personal information — hope so .
This measure is not full proof as computer geeks can find ways to get around these tags but the percentage for black market and ticket scams should greatly decrease and counting it against the cost of these tags makes a logical case for implementation.
Probably we may see more use of these RFID tags in the future unless it shall be ruled out by the governing body as what has happened this time around when functionalities like a punter being able to buy refreshments and and pay tickets without contacts were rejected — fair enough .
RFID tags will continue to rise especially having been used and marketed in the World Cup wherein sporting events around the world may use this as a case study for their acceptance and implementation.
[tags]FIFA World Cup, World Cup, FIFA World Cup 2006, Germany, RFID, World Cup Tickets[/tags]
