RFID Tagged Cars in Bermuda: “Just Wear Tin Foil Helmets!”

Car tracking and RFID tech go hand in hand. This is probably why the government of the tiny island of Bermuda is going to stir up a hornet's nest by changing the way in which residents use their vehicles.

A RFID system will be installed on every single car, truck, and motorcycle in the country. That's about 47,000 registered vehicles. This electronic vehicle registration system intends to reduce the number of non-compliant vehicles on the road at 1%. According to Bermuda's Transport Control Department this measure alone will help them recuperate over $11 million unpaid fines (Ole!).

Here's how this RFID tagging works. RFID (Radio-Frequency identification) is an automatic identification method that relies on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags. Basically, the cars will be RFID tagged with 3M chips that will only contain vehicle-specific data. The chip doesn't include personal driver info, but that doesn't make the "public freedom issue" disappear. I wouldn't be surprised if the Bermuda police used the system to go after car thieves or drivers running from the law.

The problem with RFID is the range. Therefore, the whole island will probably be covered with readers that will be installed in fixed locations. I guess the police officers will also carry mobile receivers in order to keep the fines flooding the tiny national budget of Bermuda.

The bad news is that other governments will be watching this move. I wouldn't be baffled if in a year or two the RFID tag system were applied in other countries too. But there's always a solution to this: tin foil helmets, eh?

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