Malaysia to embed car license plates with RFID
Malaysia's government, hoping to thwart car thieves, will embed license plates with microchips containing information about the vehicle and its owner, a news report said Saturday.
With the chips in use, officials can scan cars at roadblocks and identify stolen vehicles, the New Straits Times reported.
The "e-plate" chip system is the latest strategy to prevent car thieves from getting away with their crimes by merely changing the plates, the report said.
It said nearly 30 cars ? mostly luxury vehicles ? are stolen every day in Malaysia.
The Times quoted Road Transport Department Director-General Ahmad Mustapha as saying the system will be implemented next year in stages. New cars will be first, followed by those already on the road.L33tdawg: While the idea is indeed 'cutting edge' and I must say it's quite an interesting proposal, has anyone actually thought about the potential for abuse? Firstly, these things are BROADCASTING up to a 100 yards (about 30 meters) and they've got PERSONAL DATA stored on them (I'm guessing this would most likely include the owners name, address, maybe identification card number and who knows what else!). Now unless the broadcast data is encrypted and only the law enforcement's reader is able to decrypt it, this whole idea of putting personal data into a license plate is imho a disaster waiting to happen.
