Public Radio International (PRI) has been running a series of podcasts called “The World Technology.” In this episode, host Jason Margolis visits the NextFest conference run by Wired Magazine. Toward the end of this installment, Margolis interviews Tim Heffernan, director of Government Relations and Public Affairs at Motorola, about the boarding pass of the future.
The segment is approximately six minutes in length and comes toward the end of the podcast, at about the 29-minute mark. Heffernan says that by integrating an RFID transponder into the boarding pass, it’s possible to dramatically increase airport security.
Heffernan explains how known terrorists can get aboard a plane with the help of someone supplying a legitimate boarding pass. He then demonstrates for Margolis how tying a photo of a passenger—taken when that person gets a boarding pass—to the unique serial number in the RFID tag in the boarding pass would speed up airport security and prevent someone from gaming the system.
