Breckenridge inventor wary of ski-pass technology
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- Created on Friday, 01 October 2010 15:44
- Written by Nathan
By JANICE KURBJUN, SUMMIT DAILY NEWS
BRECKENRIDGE — Some skiers and riders appear to agree with Jonathan Lawson's mission to protect personal information, as about 175 of Lawson's new product — the Ski Pass Defender — have been sold since he made it available for online purchase approximately two weeks ago.
Ski Pass Defender is designed to prevent any ski pass containing an “RFID” chip from being scanned, read or skimmed until the user is ready to get on the lift. It's a sleeve that blocks the chip from emitting personal information and tracking a skier's or rider's movements as he or she roams the slopes.
RFID stands for radio frequency ID card. It is an emerging technology recently used in credit cards. It stores information that can be read electronically through a bar code, without using a magnetic strip. Lawson — a Breckenridge inventor and former ski instructor with Breckenridge Resort with a history in the digital privacy field — said the RFID method is generally a more cost-effective method of storing and using information and may become the new ski industry standard for lift passes.
Vail Resorts has used RFID in its season passes for several years. Recently, it trumpeted the release of “EpicMix,” which, according to a press release, allows a user to opt in and use the device's tracking abilities to record vertical feet, days on the mountain and more — and share that information via social networking. It can also help located missing children and persons from a group along with several other digital perks. Lawson said VR is among hundreds of resorts around the world implementing RFID technology in this manner.
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