RFID on the horizon

I went to a meeting today on RFID. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I had never even heard of this technology before. I am getting more caught up on it, but where it is going has continued to surpise me.

I recently started work at a movie theatre company and we are in the process of installing RFID readers in our theatres around the DFW metroplex. The meeting I went to today dealt with installing RFID readers in the theatres by consessions and the box office.

The technical support person who came out was telling us about the direction of where this technology is going and its nuts. They have already started shipping out credit cards with the RFID chip in it, which I am not too nuts about, becuase it just seems like identity theft waiting to happen. One of our PC tech people have already gotten one, and they send it with it embedded whether you want it or not. Granted most of the readers, you are supposed to be within a few inches in order for it to read, but still....It is just a new invention waiting to happen. Some guy is going to come up with some kind of portable scanner or something and walk around the streets waving a wand around purses and back pockets and start stealing credit card information. Just wait. The support guy was also saying that they are working on integrating the technology into cell phones. How crazy is that? In any instance, the worker at the store never even sees the credit card. How do they check the signature? I think the whole thing is just bogus, but I guess we'll find out in the near future how it is all going to shake out.