The Chinese Olympics committee has confirmed that if you buy a ticket for the opening or closing ceremony of the games, your pass will be fitted with a barcode-like microchip that contains your personal details. A little too Orwellian for comfort?

According to the blog Danwei, the chip measures 3mm² and is 50 microns thick. Despite its size, the minuscule piece of technology, developed by Beijing's Tsinghua University, contains the holder's photo, passport number, street address and email address.

Enabled by RFID (radio frequency identification) technology, data stored on the chips can be read from a distance. They can be planted, unknown to the carrier, in any object. They're currently used in passports, payment cards, clothing labels (at Wal-Mart for example) and even under the skin (a concept popular with nightclubs that want to monitor their clients). Beijing says that the sole purpose behind the scheme is to catch ticket fraudsters (each ticket costs €460). The chips are already in use in Beijing where they're embedded into public transport travel cards.