I have been sitting here for a few days mulling over this post. To write it or not to write it but I have to flush it out and put it out in a public forum for debate. I don’t have the answer and hopefully we can come up with one together. With all due respect for family members that are currently lost on Malaysia Airline Flight #370, I hope they find closure or some answers soon.
I would like to discuss if RFID tags at the airport and could they have helped prevent what some are reporting that 2 of the passports were stolen. Could RFID tags help prevent the 2 stolen passports from ever being used. Here in the USA the first RFID passports was in 2005.
RFID has been in passports since the late 1990’s. Kind of ironic that the first RFID issued passport was actually issued in Malaysia way back in 1998.
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By Anne Broache Staff Writer, CNET News
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We already have RFID on the luggage tags and in the passport itself. There has to be a way for the passengers to go through a scanner where the passport would pass through and connect with the database at Interpool. I can already hear the security pundits talking about their rights and stuff but since we are going through a security line we might as well be as secure as possible.
Somewhere along the line these two passports were checked with human eyes and I think that isn’t enough. The price of RFID has declined so much since 1998 that installing a few RFID machines to walk through is pennies on the dollar compared to what it use to be.
In my home airport of JFK passengers have to wait in line and show ID before going through the machines that check us for weapons or fluid. It makes sense to install something in between this or adjust the X-ray machines to read RFID. Maybe they already do?
I hope we hear some good news regarding the missing plane soon.
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Malaysia Airlines has lost contact with a 777-200 flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, carrying 239 people.
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