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back to article Beijing scales back RFID ticket plans

RFID technology won't feature on every ticket for the forthcoming Beijing Olympics - but those that do have it will contain an embedded chip with the holder's home address, passport details and email address. Initial plans for embedding an RFID tag in all 6.8 million tickets have had to be scrapped, along with futuristic ideas …

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  1. peter
    Happy

    Worth mentioning

    China is managing One Billion RFID ID cards, now that market is ending they are tagging animals used in food production. Customs use it for container tagging, security, vehicles.

    They are tagging "everything" even if it doesn't move. Makes the UK ID card system look jolly backward.

    The trains used to have a early coin shaped RFID token system between Shengzen and Guangzhou , which I took home with me for study.

    I'm suprised all the tickets will not be enabled, China could pull it off but maybe it just isn't worth the expense. They are at least 6 years ahead of any other country in RFID production and usage.

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  2. Rich
    Happy

    Glasto next

    They'll probably have RFID tickets for Glastonbury.

    Though thinking of it, ski resorts have had RFID lift passes that flash your photo on a screen in the lifties hut since the 90's. I guess the Olympics would be not harder (Verbier has 40,000 plus visitors in peak weeks).

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  3. Stu
    Boffin

    Rubbish

    This is old news - the RFID chips was removed from all but the opening and closing ceremony tickets over a year ago; well before the first round of tickets even went on sale here in china. There haven't been any real checks in place to ensure there is any quality to the data that they are given so you could give them anyones photo.

    And to the previous comment: one billion rfid tags is nothing; places like hong kong airport would go through that in less than a year. The tagging of animals only applies to those destined for the olympic village, and nobody believes that it is actually being done as the farms don't have the technology.

    Places like Shenzhen (Special Economic Zone just over the border from Hong Kong that was a small fishing village) are the exception not the rule - until a couple of months ago the Beijing subway relied on paper tickets being ripped to get in.

    China doesnt have the infrastructure or the experience to handle it on such a large scale. The cost is nothing here, and while they may be producing more than anyone else, they produce them for outside china.

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  4. Cyberwlf

    RFID Protection..

    Just a bit of info for those who aren't aware, if you want to protect your privacy a little better, there are RFID shielding wallets you can buy, so only when you remove the ticket from there to present on entry will details be made available, but no other time than when you choose to.

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