First time here? Check out the site's "greatest hits" or read a random post from the archives. Feel free to ask a question, and consider subscribing to the latest posts via RSS or e-mail. Thanks for visiting!

If you thought the paranoid culture of fear that pervades airports nowadays was bad, just wait. It’s about to get worse. British researchers recently field-tested a system for radio-tagging individual passengers to track their movements in airport terminals. The test could be a preview for future airport “security” plans, while in reality serving as a way for airlines to promote on-time departures and for airport stores to sell you more crap.

Melissa Petri points to an October 2006 article at silicon.com that lays out some of the details of the EU-funded “OpTag” system. The system was tested at the Debrecen Airport in Hungary late last year. How it works: RFID tags are issued at the time of check-in and can be tracked throughout the terminal, through a series of receivers and cameras, targeting individuals to within 1 meter.

The project’s leaders argue that the program provides benefits to both airport security and efficiency. How this helps security isn’t exactly clear to me. The RFID tag is issued at the time of check-in, presumably in a boarding pass. (So much for online check-in!) But once you’ve been given a radio tag, what’s to stop you from removing it, destroying it, or handing it off to someone else? And besides, how does knowledge of your presence in the airport actually improve security in the first place? Presumably you’ve been scanned, and restricted areas are locked off. If these latter conditions aren’t the case, then we should be working on those things, rather than installing new systems to track our every move.

Airlines might have a stronger argument for issuing RFIDs to every passenger, but even there, the breadth of this benefit seems pretty minimal. Presumably gate agents would no longer need to page a missing passenger who is holding up an on-time departure; they could simply trace that person’s RFID tag and locate them in the terminal. If that’s the key benefit, then give everyone a pager, like you receive at a suburban chain restaurant when you’re waiting for a table.

But the real benefit might be for the duty free shops and other stores. By tracking passenger movements and behavior, marketers can more readily track consumer preferences and pedestrian flow. In the end, they’ll just try to find better ways to sell you crap you don’t need.

All in the name of security.

Related:
- Debunking the threat, but maintaining the hysteria
- The future of airport security: Predictions and wish-lists
- Yes, you need ID at U.S. airports. Why? It’s a secret!
- Security update: Shorter no-fly lists; air cargo won’t be screened, “for your safety”