RFID + Olympic Ceremonies= Oppressively Long Lines and One Security Hole

Despite cruelly long lines caused by tough security measures (and RFID-enabled tickets) at the Olympic opening ceremonies, the uncontrollable chaos expected at the entrance gates never came.

However, a few reports coming out of Beijing suggest that the security wasn't as good as it seemed and that the closing ceremonies could face even more challenges.

In an effort to stop counterfeiters and make the opening and closing ceremonies secure, the Beijing committee included RFID chips with spectators' passport information and home/e-mail addresses in each ticket.

Before the Games, most security experts predicted one of two things would happen: Ticket lines would create a standstill at the gates, or hackers would 'break' into the tickets and steal personal information.

In the last two weeks, we've compiled personal anecdotes of people who attended that day and asked them about their experience. The results were mostly positive, with one glaring exception.

According to a Dutch businessman, he was asked to drink his sunscreen to prove it wasn't an explosive and when he explained that he couldn’t drink sunscreen, he was let through without further inquiry. "The security was less than professional and not completely thorough," he said.

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