One of the first rules of being a courtroom lawyer, is to never ask a question you don't already know the answer to. A corollary to this might be to never try and prove a point by publicly conducting an experiment that you don't already know the results of. One therefore wonders what on earth could have been going through "Privacy Activist" John Gilmore's mind when he publicly challenged a DHS Advisor to try to fly home to Washington, DC from a committee meeting in San Francisco without using his ID. The guy already had his ticket and boarding pass. He got a little extra screening, and actually got through security faster than the long line of people waiting for the regular screening. So of course this is all over the Net now, and headlines are proclaiming that "flying without a photo-ID is actually faster than flying with proper identification," and Gilmore is looking like a crackpot. Show up at the ticket counter without ID, try and buy a ticket with cash, and try to get on the plane, and be Black. Then see what happens. -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"
So of course this is all over the Net now, and headlines are proclaiming that "flying without a photo-ID is actually faster than flying with proper identification," and Gilmore is looking like a crackpot.
Or is he?!!! Nah... I know this was an accident, though I can't help wondering if someone phoned the airport in advance. I've noticed that the reporter (who was taking notes) was questioned: Would someone merely writing normally get noticed by security? The silver lining here is that the TSA was forced to say that an ID isn't technically required, so that they have in theory relinquished the right to demand one. There have been worse mistakes. Of course, I have little doubts about how this really works in practice. -TD
participants (2)
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Eric Cordian
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Tyler Durden