[ Curious ]

LTO to implement RFID tags on motor vehicles

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief September 24, 2009 · 2 min read

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News about the Land Transportation Office (LTO) implementing RFID tagging on all motor vehicles this October has been making the rounds of the evening news today.

When I first heard about it on the car’s radio, I was surprised — wow, the LTO is going hi-tech. That should be nice. However, some sectors are blocking this move claiming privacy issues.

lto rfid

Nevertheless, from a technical point of view, I think this move by LTO offers more advantages than disadvantages.

This technology is not really new to Philippine highways. The ePass that thousands of cars use to drive thru tollways (NLEX and SLEX) is powered by RFID.

rfid

This October 2009, the Department of Foreign Affairs will also implement RFID on all new Passports (ePassport). If you renew your old green passport, it will be replaced with a brown RFID-tagged passport.

Private schools are already using RFID in student IDs for borrowing books and also gates in the campus have RFID ID Scanners (e.g. Claret School of Quezon City and Colegio de San Juan de Letran).

The clothes that you buy in Bench and other apparel stores are also tagged with RFIDs. Those steel gates at the entrance serve as an RFID scanner.

If the same technology is used for all registered cars, it could be a convenience in so many ways:

Renewals of vehicle registration could be made faster/easier.
It could also be used to easily identify stolen vehicles.
All cars can be readily equipped with ePass too — the lines would be faster at the toll gates especially during peak hours. This can also be implemented in parking lots too.
No need to go to LTO to pay traffic violations. Your RFID could be charged directly (contactless payment) after citation — no more confiscation of driver’s license. That could practically eradicate kotong (what’s the English equivalent?) since traffic cops can no longer blackmail you into going to a 3-day driving seminar in exchange for a small tip.

RFID works like a short-distance radio signal, normally around 10 feet or 3 meters. As such, it cannot be efficiently used to track objects the way GPS can. The issue about privacy is a legitimate concern though.

I still think it’s a good move, though. From reports I’ve heard, the tags will cost motorists around Php400 a pop. I thought that’s a bit expensive since RFID tags are really cheap nowadays.

When will the LTO implement RFID tags on motor vehicles?

The LTO will implement RFID tagging on all motor vehicles this October.

What are the advantages of LTO's RFID tagging for vehicles?

It could make vehicle registration renewals faster and help identify stolen vehicles.

Is RFID technology already used in the Philippines?

Yes, it is used in tollway ePass, ePassports, student IDs, and retail security tags.

React to this article:

land transportation office lto philippines lto rfid rfid in the philippines rfid lto

Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

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99 Comments

yellowsalman · 17 years ago

after watching unang hirit today, it just made me more suspicious that this is just a way for LTO and stradcom to get money from motorists. imagine, the provider for the RFID chips did not undergo a bidding process. stradcom is chosen as the provider on the basis that that they won a bidding for providing IT services to the LTO in the late 90s. i think that since this project is quite huge, 350 * millions of vehicles, the selection of the technology provider should have been done in a more stringent manner. it might be possible that if this underwent a bidding assuming that there is no corruption involved, a smaller installation fee than 350 pesos might be charged to motorists. also the fact that it came suddenly as a surprise, with all the big transport groups not having taken part in their said public consultations, really reinforces my suspicion that corruption is involved.

Kimpao · 17 years ago

@twitter – nope there’s no such thing or provision in the contract. It only stipulates modifications and enhancements concerning the Infrastructure that they have implemented.

Funny thing, the info contained in the tags will be the same info that is indicated on the car’s CR and OR. So what’s the point of implementing this if LTO requires that you carry a copy of these docs in your car. It won’t ease traffic. Why? traffic here in our country is caused by undisciplined drivers and law enforcers. If you get to read LTO’s traffic rules and regulations, maayos but the question is, is it being implemented properly. Most of these violators are the law makers and implementors themselves. Classic example, one of the major contributors of traffic are those PUVs that indiscriminately load and unload passengers. Traffic enforcers should do there jobs efficiently, dapat hulihin nila. Yun mga pasahero na nasa gitna ng kalsada kung mag-abang, dapat disiplinahin din.

Will it help curb pollution. Big, NO. LTO already implemented a “no emission test, no registration” policy. So how can they, smoke belchers, still be registered? Thru “none appearance” right? So who permits these non-appearance schemes, LTO din diba?

Will it deter car-napping. Don’t think so. Weird but it was recently in the news that they recently discovered a syndicate involving several LTO employees and officials illegally manufacturing authentic license plates with authentic LTO documents inside the Main LTO compound.

So how can this RFID deter all these issues?

Am not against RFIDs but this is not the right solution for the issues they have been pointing out.

chris · 17 years ago

i think yung kinakatakot ng ibang tao lalo na yung mga human rights activists at mga rebolusyunaryo (lol) ay madali silang makikita in cases na meron silang activities pero that’s on justice’s side siguro… astig itong LTO-IT prooject na ito para mabawasan ang pasaway na tsuper na may dala dala palaging G.I pipe ;))

dennis · 17 years ago

what RFID means anyway?

Ton · 17 years ago

Did they say how this will help ease traffic? I’d think that’s a bigger problem than carnapping.

Pweng · 17 years ago

Does it mean that all vehicles must have rfid tags? I guess some people want to drive unidentified. I hope the rfid tags are not removable once attached in vehicles. But, I still don’t get the point. Have the proponents conducted an intensive study and analysis? Have they conducted a period of testing if it is really essential to the community? It is a waste of time and money launching the infomercial and just be criticized later. Is it really a big deal?

lolipown · 17 years ago

I simply have to laugh at the FUD most people are spreading around here…. Has anyone actually seen the technical specs that the LTO is looking to implement?

Tongue in cheek… your ATM/Credit card uses an RFID to store info. Does that make it safe/unsafe?

tonio · 17 years ago

its not just a scheme~
its an evil scheme if u know wat i mean~
simply invading privacy…
haaaaay~
the world will nearly end~

T-

t-cell · 17 years ago

Regarding RFIDs. It was created to be a replacement for the bar code. In essence, it is just a sophisticated bar code with range.

A lot of people are against the RFID tags because it can easily be cloned and hacked unlike contactless smart chips that goes in e-passports.

In the hands of the wrong people, they can clone your RFID tags and then implant it to be used for something else. Sa Pinas pa !!

Besides, P400 for a glorified bar code with RF is expensive. Kung mura lang, baka puede pa.

It has many flaws, so can’t blame people. It’s unfair to say people have not done their research or just do not understand the technolgy. For all we know, they have done more research on RFID tags, w/c is why they are against it because they discovered it’s flaws

Contactless smart (microchip) cards that goes to e-passports are a diff. thing. They are not the same as the simple RFID tags. In fact, the old machine-readable zone on old passports are more secure than the US’ passport card that contains RFID only. This is the reason why US’ passport cards are only good for domestic use and a handful of countries only and not accepted for International travel. For Int’l travel they need to apply and use their e-passport containing the contactless microchip. The contactless chips that goes to modern e-passports are more secure and sophisticated than MR zones of old passports, so we can just see that RFIDs are on the lower totem pole among the three.

1)http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/02/cloning_rfid_pa_1.html
2)http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/02/video-hacker-war-drives-san-francisco-cloning-rfid-passports/
3)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometric_passport
4)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passport_card

Kathleen · 17 years ago

yeah! yet another money making scheme from LTO. More money to corrupt.. RF ID is no use in Phils.. where pinoy are full of corrupts officials.

Kathleen · 17 years ago

nah! this is just another money making (corruption) for LTO from US drivers…

No use here in Phils

Dave · 17 years ago

If you want to know more about RFID, check out Katherine Albrecht’s work.

http://www.spychips.com/

redshift · 17 years ago

Oh, and one more thing…since the RFID tag dosent turn off, anybody with a scanner walking down the street can scan your car and potentially get details from it…so if it contains the same data as your OR/CR, then they can get your name and address.

redshift · 17 years ago

Look, they will place scanners almost everywhere you will go since one of the biggest pitches is that it can find stolen vehicles. Once your RFID-equipped car passes through a scanner, your car’s data and the scanner’s location are stored in a central database somewhere. Hence, someone in LTO can easily see where you’ve gone and even how fast you got there (by calculating distance between scanners and time elapsed). So one lackey in LTO can effectively come to your house one day and ask why you went to this place and to this place.

And knowing how lax IT security standards are in the government, would you want your personal travels to be known? The LTO chief hasnt even bothered to explain the security and encryption aspects (if there are any).

Second, is that they claim that this will reduce paperwork. It might make registration easier with no more stencils and all, but if you’re buying a used car, the owner still has to show documents since not all of us will have a scanner handy.

If the LTO is hell-bent to implement this, then do what all IT project managers do: run a pilot test first. Ideally, start with the city and provincial buses since they are supposedly under tight watch for their routes and how fast they are supposed to go. After the buses, then do the other public utility vehicles. After that, vehicles used by the government and then finally all private vehicles.

If the LTO was a trustful agency, maybe…but with their own fake number plate operation in it…no way.

T-

t-cell · 17 years ago

If the 64k chip and the RFID is one and the same then I stand corrected.

taddah · 17 years ago

10meters lng po ung range nyan! so ndi yn pede s paniniktik! haha

nanayMo · 17 years ago

The word “Kotong” has crawled into our culture that signify corruption in those who are expected to enforce laws or regulations. And we are even active partners in this because we tolerate it to save us the hassle of facing the consequences of our actions.

But I won’t volunteer an English equivalent to this. The word simply goes deeper than “bribery”. We are a poor nation, and the amount we dish out as “kotong” makes it more evil because we badly need that amount ourselves.

This is my personal opinion and I claim no other else.

We started out in this RFID, but look where it led us.

T-

t-cell · 17 years ago

The DFA already begun accepting on-line appointments for the e-passport since Aug. 26 and quite a few already applied for it.

What’s disappointing is that it still takes 2 weeks before you get your e-passport because earlier reports said it will only take 5-10 days. I think there were a few with “connections” that were able to get it in just a couple of days and even if they applied on the wrong on-line appointment form and therefore no formal appointment letters. For the rest, it’s 2 weeks.

I’ll be getting mine by next week.

P.S. The e-passport has a 64k IC chip to store your biometrics besides from the same technology on the machine-readable passport just in case the IC chip fails. So, it’s really the IC chip the makes it unique and more secure and not the RFID.

http://foreign-nurse.lefora.com/2009/09/04/e-passport-has-finally-arrived-in-the-philippines/page1/

Nico Nicomedes · 17 years ago

It’s just sad that the people who are speaking against this technology, doesn’t even know how the technology works. I hope they do their research first before they claim their so called conspiracy theories. I heard Ted Failon and Teddy Casino talking about this and they already made this assumptions about RFID when it’s been in existence in the country for years now.

moomeng · 17 years ago

kotong is suhol so kotong means bribe or bribery ^^ ewan q kung tama hehe

jakey · 17 years ago

Idea looks good but timing is doubtful. Nine months to go for this administration. Seems like an election/retirement fund raising campaign. With millions of vehicles sa Phils. At P400 per pop malakilaki ang initial revenue nila. E kung within the 9 months hangang tags lang maprovide nila. Yung ancillary equipment inuutayutay pa hanggang magkalimutan na. I wont be surprised if the next LTO admin will be asking for additional funds to complete this project.

jangelo · 17 years ago

Kasama ba color coding sa apprehensions na aided ng RFID? ;) Wala nang takas mga mahilig mag commemorative plate. Raise your hand if you’re one of these folks. :)

Reel Advice · 17 years ago

I think some people are just being too negative about this move. I really like the idea and how much potential this RFID can bring.

So what if we eradicate kotong? It’s a small step to change our society’s mindset that we can get away with almost anything just with money. It will make drivers drive more carefully and more disciplined because they know they won’t get away from the hassle.

Jason · 17 years ago

I agree to a lot of what was just said! RFID is no question a good technology but it depends on what you want to achieve for using such technology. If this will be used to store data about the vehicleâ€¦. GREAT! If the ownerâ€™s informaton is also included in that RFID chipâ€¦ THINK TWICE!

ato · 17 years ago

timing na timing sa 2010 election para pondo ng mga bata ni gma dagdag gastos at bagong kita na naman ng mga fixer

Justin Lancomb · 17 years ago

We should support this move cause this can be a spring board for greater things like the national ID system which we so desperately need to finally control the peace in order issues the Philippines’ is plagued with.
Justin L.
Technorats.com

Bon · 17 years ago

Wala nang makakaligtas sa odd even when this occurs. :)

I wonder if this can substitute for the E-pass and for parking cards in shopping malls. You can be debited directly for parking charges if every single vehicle has an RFID tag. This is done in Singapore for example.

JC John Sese Cuneta · 17 years ago

Finally, the new Passport is coming. Now time to get a Passport :p (I’m waiting for the RFID Passport all these years.)

Back on topic.. I think the concern of the “anti” camp (for lack of a better name to the group) is that it is questionable as to who can access the data and what data are being “tracked” or recorded.

For example, Person A and Person B had a road argument. They are both ordinary citizens. But we all know that there is a way to get things done (especially if you have the money). Person B got the data of Person A and B is now also aware of where A’s car is.

There are no questions as to the technology itself or its benefits, hands-down, it is a great advantage, I for one agrees with that (and I am highly in-favor of other similar moves like the National ID system), but the anti camp do have legitimate concerns and questions.

Now, I’m not talking about “because we’re in the Philippines and people can be bought”. It happens everywhere and it can happen to anyone. They are voicing out “privacy” concerns, not because they are hiding something, but because of the fact that – there are people with ill purposes. Can we, imperfect beings truly guard these “tracking” technologies? As have been proven time and again, every technology we ever developed were also used for evil.

I’m not defending them, all I’m saying is that they do have legitimate concerns.

^_^

petken · 17 years ago

Sa IDs namin yan nakalagay for borrowing books entering school buildings lumalabas yung mga infos namin pagnascan. I think it’s a good move on the part of LTO para wala ng mga kotong cops.

JohnLloy · 17 years ago

350 pesos for 10 years sos baka pati yan gawan ng issue ano baahhh

JohnLloy · 17 years ago

gusto ko ngang batukan yung lider ng PISTON na against dito. kanina sa Umagang kay ganda saying na madedetect daw kahit saan dahil sa satellite.. amp..

Neloman · 17 years ago

“Kotong” is bribery right? Kaya naman naging kotong kasi pag di ka nagbigay “kokotongan” ka sa ulo ng mga siga sa kanto. only in the philippines.

manong · 17 years ago

“That could practically eradicate kotong (whatâ€™s the English equivalent?) since traffic cops can no longer blackmail you into going to a 3-day driving seminar in exchange for a small tip”

— well i’d rather pay the small tip (P100) than pay a larger sum (P1000)+ seminar + inconvenience.. blackmail?

karen · 17 years ago

it’s not a question of can it be used for bad acts, but will it address what it seeks to address? and if it is meant for colorum busting then why are we ALL mandated (around 7 million vehicles I am told = 2.45 billion pesos) to get rfids even on private vehicles.

There are other solutions to colorum and carnapping, and theives will just find a way to go around the rfid.

karen · 17 years ago

The primary reason it seems is that they want to control colorum vehicles. well and good. what will prevent unscrupulous syndicates with connections within LTO from being able to sneak out such RFIDs? And if that is indeed the reason why make it mandatory for private vehicles? Why not limit it to PUVs.
Carnapped cars are cannibalized for parts. Or brought to provinces where it might be just as easy to circumvent the LTO RFID. As for toll fees? Well there’s the ecard for the regular users. Why would someone who only uses toll gates once in a rare while need an rfid?

Who are we kidding? This is just too close to campaign season, very convenient way to raise campaign funds.

Adrian · 17 years ago

astig. parang sa singapore, ang na iba lang sa SG machine talaga ang nakalagay, para ma detect kung over speeding ka and pang bayad sa toll.

good yung ganyan high na din ang pinas. sana walang mga epal na mag object dyan sa project na yan.

twitter · 17 years ago

@all against…give us some example on how will this be used in bad acts?

@kimpao… RFID is included with the LTO-IT PROJECT that went into bidding in 1997. Ngayon lang sya naimplement. accdg to the stradcom guy sa umagang kay ganda kanina

@dave… RFID reader is expensive…FYI
http://www.amazon.com/Intermec-IP30-Handheld-Reader-IP30A0B7014/dp/B00202VYIS/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=office-products&qid=1253761536&sr=8-8

@neloman…its not that easy to remove.

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 17 years ago

Hi anne! I think the brown e-Passport will also look like this:

Neloman · 17 years ago

Kung against carnapping ‘to, hindi b kayang-kayang tanggalin ng mga masasamang loob yung mga stickers? kaya nga sila gumagamit ng pekeng plate numbers sa mga operations nila di ba para hindi sila ma-identify? No sticker, no identification. Malalaman pa ba ng mga enforcers yun kung wala silang tags. hindi ba dapat naka-embed tong RFIDs na to kung saan di nila kayang matamper? And what if yung mga bigtime sindikato e makahack sa system nila, di ba madali para sa kanila i-track down mga victims nila. considering mukukuha nila yung make and model ng car mo. pano ko may ferrari ako (pwedeng mangarap), edi madali na nila akong masusubaybayan at tambangan. Yes, technology is a boon, but if it falls with the wrong hands, it will be a detriment.

Pusang Kulog · 17 years ago

Public acceptance for RFID on vehicles will depend on what kind of information is going to be electronically stored…

What I would want to know is the English equivalent of the word “kotong”… It shivers me to think that corruption might be so embedded on Filipino culture that we have coined an original term for it without even borrowing from other languages…

Hay naku! He he he!

Anne · 17 years ago

I think the brown passport is different from the ePassport. I have a brown passport and the ePassport will be released this October. The ePassport is just a card not the typical passport book type.

Dave · 17 years ago

You can read RFID tags from 30 feet, and up to 60 feet or so with the right equipment. Anybody can buy the readers. They’re not that expensive. Anybody can read whatever is on the RFID tags (not only the LTO). They could encrypt the data, but typically don’t, and even if they do it’s usually weak encryption.

Kimpao · 17 years ago

There’s nothing wrong with the RFID system that LTO is trying to implement. What matters is discipline on both the enforcers and the drivers. No matter how much technology you shove down into everyones throat , at the end of the day it still boils down as to how disciplined both will be on the road. Just like CCTV cameras, you get to see who’s involved, what and how it happened, kita mo na kung sino-sino ang kriminal pero, nahuhuli o hinuhuli ba? Second, hindi naman talaga yun RFID ang issue dun, the issue is why wasn’t the public consulted first, why the sudden implementation and most of all WHY this project never went into the process of public bidding? It’s so obvious that people in the LTO and Stradcom are trying to party, again.

buzz · 17 years ago

tracking people using rfid? i dont thinks so especially that the frequency range of rfid is so short…

Essays.ph · 17 years ago

RFID – Future mark of the beast…

Just a tip. ^_^

deuts · 17 years ago

It’s good to hear about this issue from the expert, yugatech.

Promdi · 17 years ago

Ok lang naman ang RFID kung same infos as OR/CR ng vehicle lang ang makukuha nila. It’s not like gov’t can track you down esp kung 10ft lang ang signal na maeemit nito. Dapat lang na may GPRS ang lahat ng govt vehicles para mabawasan ang pag gamit nito nang personal ng mga opisyal.

Dave · 17 years ago

I don’t have something to hide, but I think it’s wrong to track people (and their vehicles) like animals. I don’t want the RFID on my car, but I guess it will be shoved down my throat.

Armi I · 17 years ago

If you dont hve something to hide, then why you will object? i’m in favor of this implementation. Much better if the trafic enforcer impost speedcam as well.

WD LTO

J Rosauro · 17 years ago

only those people who have something to hide, or who are actually hiding, are against such move, just like the objections raised against a national ID system…