Micro chip wristbands for gigs!

DOC09UNAM

2012 Festivals to Use Micro-
chipped Wristbands for Attendees

Every year, the UK plays host to a number of
major festivals, many of them taking place in the
summer time. This year, at least a couple of
them will see attendees kitted out with micro-
chipped wristbands for convenience. The idea is
that festival-goers will be equipped with RFID
wristbands in place of tickets and scanned upon
entry. These wristbands could also be loaded
with money to allow people to pay for goods in
the grounds.


The BBC reports that ticket holders would be
registered in and out of venues with either
turnstiles or hand-held scanners. Organisers
would also be able to track the data, a fact that
has made some folks uneasy, including
Glastonbury's Michael Eavis. The Beeb reports
that while Eavis has said he is 'tempted' to adopt
the 'incredible' system for Glastonbury, he's
worried about the implications.


"All the commercial implications of the chip are
slightly worrying aren't they?" he said. "I don't
want to take people into a land they don't want
to go into. And using information about people,
I wouldn't be happy about that."


Though it's still not clear how much data would
be tracked and what it would be used for, it's
worth noting that the company behind the
wristband says ticket-holders can also be
anonymous if they wish.


Glastonbury is among the festivals that may
utilise the technology, which comes from
Intellitix. The festival currently uses a system
that sees the faces of ticket- holders printed on
their tickets. Intellitix says there is a couple of
festivals that will be using its product in 2012,
but did not elaborate as to which ones. The
company is expected to reveal more details at
the end of the month.

Sounds pretty cool to be honest, anyone think Eavis has a point regarding the data recorded?

Can't see a problem myself if you can choose to be anonymous, bar maybe scummers trying to rob wristbands off people for the cash on them!



www.tomshardware.co.uk/Festivals-Microchips-Wristbands-RFID-Tickets,news-37540.html

O'Doodle

Would have worked well at Oxegen... would have kept the day ticket scum bags out of the campsites and also stopped any corrupt security from letting their mates in for nothing.

O'Doodle

What I'd like to see is a system where troublemakers are banned from festivals.