Long time lurker, first time poster, but even at 0527 I couldn't resist...
The reason your passport was scanned for the wifi was to do with Italian law. Public internet in Italy required ID to be associated with each session. It would seem it applied even in the airport. I found that out when I was in Milan back in 2008 (course I flew the evil orange to get there...)
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As for the actual report, good stuff, I do aspire to finding both time and money to do something similar one day.