Regardless of the outcome of the World Cup soccer tournament in Germany several weeks away, the games already have their place in history: Never before have fans attending an event organized by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) been required to provide so much information about themselves that can be accessed so quickly.
More than 3.5 million tickets will be sold with an embedded RFID (radio frequency identification) chip containing identification information, to be checked against a database as fans pass through entrance gates at all 12 stadiums in June.
It's the first World Cup tournament to use RFID technology to identify cardholders, and it's not likely to be the last. But, if one senior FIFA official has his way, the amount of personal information required of fans -- all of which is quickly identifiable with the help of RFID -- will be kept to a minimum.
"The absolute control of soccer fans is new; it doesn't fit their mentality," said FIFA Secretary General Urs Linsi in an interview with the German daily newspaper Tagesspiegel earlier this week in comments confirmed by IDG News Service. "I've learned a lesson: At the next tournament, we won't store as much data as the Germans."
Organizers of the games in Germany, the 2006 FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee, have required fans to provide a wealth of personal data when applying for cards online, including name, address, date of birth, nationality, number of ID card or passport and bank or credit card data. The need for so much information, they say, is to help prevent black marketing and keep hooligans, rioters and other troublemakers out of stadiums.
Security is a high priority at the games. It's mandated by FIFA and is being eagerly supported by the German government, which was devastated by the terrorist attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.
The organizing committee remains mum, however, about what information will be available on the smart tag. "No private data will be stored on the chip," a spokesman said in an e-mail. "Only unique particulars concerning registration and tournament information will be stored on the chip."
Rumors have been afloat that security officials equipped with portable RFID scanning devices will be monitoring fans inside the stadiums. Several of the World Cup stadiums, including the Allianz Arena in Munich, are equipped with RFID indoors, in addition to the gates.
The organizing committee says there will be no such in-stadium surveillance. "Special machines will be set at the gates to read the chips," the spokesman said. "Chips won't be tracked anywhere else."
The committee points to several reasons why it chose to issue tickets with RFID tags instead of widely used bar code. The chips "improve customer service and make security measures scalable," the spokesman said. Since every ticket is unique, lost tickets can be easily blocked, he added. Chips also make the tickets forge proof.
"The organizing committee had good intentions: Tickets were to be embedded with a chip containing personal information to prevent black marketing," Linsi said. "That's where the trouble began."
Whether or not FIFA will use RFID at the next World Cup tournament in 2010 is unclear. "It's simply too early to answer that question," a spokesman for FIFA in Switzerland said in an e-mail.
This whitepaper explains the terminology and concepts behind Data Replication technologies and establishes some sizing rules through worked examples. Learn the new paradigm in disaster tolerance—protect data anywhere.
Download now »
Server virtualization is a popular option for dealing with mounting datacenter costs. Another equally promising approach is the use of an Application Delivery Controller. Citrix NetScaler provides a low-cost way for organizations to reduce their server count and accrue cost savings from a reduction in space, cooling, power and personnel.
Download now »
The emergence of WLANs has created a new breed of security threats to enterprise networks.
Included in HP ProCurve WLAN solutions is security technology that alleviates threats from WLANs through:
* Monitoring wireless activity inside and out of the enterprise
* Classifying WLAN transmissions into harmful and harmless
* Preventing transmissions that pose a security threat to the enterprise network
* Locating participating devices for physical remediation
Effectively address data protection challenges, implementing solutions that help store and protect business–critical data while cutting costs and improving efficiency and reliability.
Download now »
Sign up to receive Security Resource Alerts
This white paper provides guidance on how to develop a strategic approach to managing and monitoring logs, a key function required for compliance with many regulatory mandates and a critical defense against security threats.
Download now! »
Learn about the processes and technologies that support security information management (SIM) operations, as well as the business case for SIM. The series examines different options for implementing SIM and gives you evaluation criteria for selecting the best option for your organization.
Download now! »
Learn the strategies, actions, and capabilities that Best-in-Class organizations employ and technologies they choose to obtain superior performance against various security performance metrics. This report provides guidelines for identifying which security solutions to consume as a MSS and defines best practices for choosing and managing MSSPs.
Download now! »
Recommend This
