Usually, the only thing you have to worry about in the beautiful Mexican resort area of Cancun is putting on enough sunscreen and ducking the drunken rowdies. Now, though, due to recent political uprisings, the U.S. State Department has issued a travel warning:

“Americans traveling to Cancun should use caution and avoid crowds, especially around the city hall and the Plaza de la Reforma, as there is a potential for spontaneous violence,”

So, instead of heading into town or staying on property the whole time, take your group on a road trip to Tulum–it’s spectacular. Or take them snorkeling at the caves of Xel-Ha, which are truly amazing.

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A while back, I posted about radio-frequency identification, or RFID, and how these little units could be cropping up on a conference badge near your meeting. At the time, I wrote, “The technology would potentially allow planners to really track attendees by using RFID in badges. But if the invasion of privacy this entails gives you the willies (as it does me!), the battle’s already being fought on the retail front, long before it hits the convention center.”

Well, the hackers have already fired their first shot, according to an article from CNET News that Jim Carroll posted a link to on the MIMlist listserv today.

“Hackers and those with less pure motives could use a handheld device and the software to mark expensive goods as cheaper items and walk out through self checkout. Underage hackers could attempt to bypass age restrictions on alcoholic drinks and adult movies, and pranksters could create confusion by randomly swapping tags, requiring that a store do manual inventory.”

Or, if used at a meeting on badges, switch people’s identifies, insert all kinds of untrue information…scary to think about. People already have big privacy concerns about using RFID, and I can imagine this will only add to them.

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1. So, a little kid in Oslo, Norway, gets bored at the airport and decides to go for a ride–on a luggage conveyor belt.

“Surrounded by bags and suitcases, the boy rode the entire length of the belt, passing through an X-ray scanner in the process. The ride came to a sudden end when staffers saw the youngster on the carousel and stopped it by pressing an alarm button.

“Operations manager Bent Helge Sjursen said security procedures at the airport would be reviewed to ensure it doesn’t happen again. ” (Yahoo!)

2. Los Angeles-bound plane had to return to Australia after “The United Airlines captain decided the note could have meant ‘bomb on board.’

“A flight bound for Los Angeles turned back after a note reading “B-O-B” was found on a sick bag in a toilet. But airline workers said the acronym was also commonly used to mean “best on board”, referring to a particularly attractive passenger…Correspondents said the letters could have other meanings too, as well as spelling a man’s name.” (BBC)

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