Individuals attending the opening and closing Olympic ceremonies in Beijing later this summer will have to forfeit a little privacy to do so:

In a move unprecedented for the Olympics, tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies are embedded with a microchip containing the bearer’s photograph, passport details, addresses, e-mail and telephone numbers.

The intent is to keep potential troublemakers from the 91,000-seat National Stadium as billions watch on TV screens around the world. Along with terrorists, Chinese officials fear protesters might wreck the glitzy ceremonies, unfurling Tibet flags, anti-China banners or even T-shirts adorned with strident messages.

Chinese authorities had originally intended to track all 6.8 million tickets this way, but opted not to because of the logistical nightmare such a move would create. But some critics are questioning the effectiveness–and need–of such security measures for any of the tickets.

“They should be concentrating on sniffing out the kinds of dangerous stuff rather than worrying about the identify of the people with the tickets,” said Roger Clarke, an Australian security expert. His Xamax Consultancy in Canberra advises businesses in online security and identity authentication.

“The way in which you recognize an evildoer, somebody who wants to throw a bomb, somebody who wants to unfurl a Tibet flag is not on the basis of their identify,” Clarke added. “It’s the act that they perform and it’s the materials they carry with them.”

Considering that China has developed some of the world’s most advanced RFID (radio frequency identification) technology and uses it to keep close tabs on its citizens and borders, is China’s ticket security only about keeping the Olympics secure–or is it also about keeping tabs on thousands of international ticket-bearers?