Ben Adam

U.S.

Janitor

Seems the readers have decisively agreed to hex the passenger RFID tag in the airport idea. If readers visit MIT website, believe a similar system is mentioned... real time display of the location of every student participating in RFID transmitter project.

Could the same technology be applied to a different object to increase public safety? Anyone interested in protection against one of the most common armaments being used in some parts of the world, and commonly available in most?

Can we assume that most vehicles used as car bombs are stolen?

If every car were theoretically non-removably embedded with several RFID chips that transmitted the same unique sequence of symbols (ID tag/label), every car could be monitored by a networked matrix of receivers. All RFID chips on a car reported stolen will continue to transmit the unique sequence of symbols associated with that stolen car. The law enforcement network database would compare signals received with the unique symbol sequence signatures of confirmed stolen vehicles. Authorities near the locations of the stolen vehicles would be notified and real time assisted in seizure of the vehicles, probably before the vehicles could be taken by thieves to "chop shops", or "car bomb" development shops.

This application also has the Big Brother element, but this time, we are protecting the core of human dreams,... individual ownership of an automobile... and human lives.

Could we retrofit old cars without the RFID transponders? Or would we merely rely on inventory transition with time?

What about that initial assumption that terrorists use stolen cars? Maybe not. The technology can still be used to thwart car theft.