2012 Festivals to Use Micro-chipped Wristbands for Attendees

Music festivals this summer will see the arrival of a new technology that should help cut down on ticket fraud and touting, as well as eliminate the need to carry cash around the grounds.

Every year, the UK plays host to a number of major festivals, many of them taking place in the summer time. This year, at least a couple of them will see attendees kitted out with micro-chipped wristbands for convenience. The idea is that festival-goers will be equipped with RFID wristbands in place of tickets and scanned upon entry. These wristbands could also be loaded with money to allow people to pay for goods in the grounds.

The BBC reports that ticket holders would be registered in and out of venues with either turnstiles or hand-held scanners. Organisers would also be able to track the data, a fact that has made some folks uneasy, including Glastonbury's Michael Eavis. The Beeb reports that while Eavis has said he is 'tempted' to adopt the 'incredible' system for Glastonbury, he's worried about the implications.

"All the commercial implications of the chip are slightly worrying aren't they?" he said. "I don't want to take people into a land they don't want to go into. And using information about people, I wouldn't be happy about that."

Though it's still not clear how much data would be tracked and what it would be used for, it's worth noting that the company behind the wristband says ticket-holders can also be anonymous if they wish.

Glastonbury is among the festivals that may utilise the technology, which comes from Intellitix. The festival currently uses a system that sees the faces of ticket-holders printed on their tickets. Intellitix says there is a couple of festivals that will be using its product in 2012, but did not elaborate as to which ones. The company is expected to reveal more details at the end of the month.

Image credit: BBC