www.politechbot.com/p-04312.html
There is no such law requiring IDs of travelers, and TSA won't publish their secret regulation that purports to require ID. So nobody actually knows whether ID is required, in what circumstances, what kinds of ID are OK or not, what options people without ID have, etc. Try refusing to show ID on your next flight, and when they tell you that you can't board, ask them what regulation requires you to show ID to board a plane. Here are their arguments: I can't challenge anything but the demand for ID, not what they do with it after getting it (thus I can't challenge or inquire into the "no-fly list" and other database lookups that *motivate* the demand for ID). I can't challenge anything at all in this court, because the Courts of Appeals have exclusive jurisdiction over TSA orders. The government need not publish a rule like this, because TSA security directives are exempt from FOIA by statute, and no other reason requires them to publish the law. The airlines' "request" for ID does not infringe my right to travel, even if they don't let me travel when I "decline". I can't challenge the ID demand on trains, buses, or cruise ships because I didn't actually go down and get rejected by a train, bus, or cruise line, even though their web sites told me I'd be rejected. The First Amendment is not involved, even though I can't assemble with others, speak at conferences, or petition the government for redress, without traveling. Anything they do to anyone in an airport is exempt from the Fourth Amendment if they claim it relates to "security". They have a little enemies list of "suspected" "threats", and they need our ID to check us against the list. A demand for ID is a search under the Fourth Amendment, and they have no probable cause to search us. We will argue that the case should not be dismissed, in the courtroom of Judge Susan Illston, on the 19th floor of the San Francisco Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate Avenue at Polk St, at 9AM on January 17, 2003. If you think Total Information Awareness is a terrible idea, show up. If you think every "free" citizen should not be routinely treated like a suspected terrorist, show up. Impress the judge with the seriousness of your interest in these issues. Oh yes, you'll have to show ID to get into the Federal Building. That's unconstitutional too, but not the subject of this particular case. John Gilmore ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
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