Your Right to Travel Anonymously: Not Dead Yet

ChiralSoftware writes "Remember John Gilmore's fight to be able to travel on commercial airlines without having to show ID? It has dropped out of the news for a while, but now it appears that the fight is continuing. I remember in the 80s we used to make jokes about Soviet citizens being asked "show me your papers" and needing internal passports to travel in their own country. Now we need internal passports to travel in our country. How did this happen? The requirement to show ID for flying on commercial passenger flights started in 1996, in response to the crash of TWA Flight 800. This crash was very likely caused by a mechanical failure. How showing ID to board a plane prevents mechanical failures is left as an exercise to the reader. How mandatory ID even prevents terrorist attacks is also not clear to me; all the 9/11 hijackers had valid government-issued ID. I hope the courts don't wimp out on this fight."

Comments

Re:Why else?

[Anonymous Coward]

Before he added "Iraq Cluster Fuck" to his resume, his crowning achivement was getting Nutrasweet (which is neither nutricious, nor particularly sweet) to market.

Re:Why else?

[Randy Wang]

You seem to be misunderestimating Bush and his cronies, you silly fellow. Particularly with your glaring omission of "unknown knowns" ;-)

I hate leftie slashdot folk

[zensmile]

I am sick of you f*cking leftie slashdot folk. Damn. Yes, I want everyone who is on a plane to show ID and have that ID checked against a central database of "suspicious" people. If I see one f*ckng terrorist on a plane that I am aboard, I will take his damn head off with my shoe if I have to. F*CK M. MOORE and the leftie slashdotters.

Re:The horse is out of the barn for good.....

[stud9920]

It's spelled "sans". And putting random words in French is not "chic". Same remark for "faux". What's wrong with "fake" ? I guess you can't even pronounce "sans" of "faux" correctly.

Re:Why else?

[mtrupe]

Why don't you blame terrorists instead? After all, they are the ones who are trying to take away our rights, when it comes right down to it. These are the people who hate freedom and hope to destroy it for everyone. They are the ones whose wacked out religion tells them that all Westerners are "infidels". They are the ones to blame.

Re:Why else?

[Master of Transhuman]

Why do we need to look away?

You already have your head buried so deep in the sand (or up your ass) you shouldn't notice anything we do anyway.

Michael Moore is an amateur

[Katravax]

He's a publicity-seeking self-aggrandizing hack that accidentally manages to get things right on occassion. His most recent only told 1/10th of the story on 9/11, and then pretty much pinned it all on Bush, and Bush is barely more than a clueless puppet of the real power-brokers. If you want to hear a real patriot, listen to Alex Jones. He's a bitter pill at first, but once you realize he backs up 100% of what he says with public, mainstream news sources, you can't help but know he's right.

so very gn

[Doc Ruby]

"Tribal sovereignty means just that; it's sovereign. You're a -- you've been given sovereignty, and you're viewed as a sovereign entity." - President George W. Bush 8/6/04

Moore is a pro

[Doc Ruby]

Moore has produced several very successful documentary films and popular TV shows. That makes him a professional. His documentary skills are so professional that there's no basis to refute his presentation, so no one has, credibly. Seeking publicity is appropriate to someone promoting their film.

*You* are an amateur, in both the literal and perjorative sense. You're complaining that Moore "accidentally gets things right", and that he pins it on Bush, then complain that Bush is a puppet? What are you talking about? F9/11 shows the powers that Bush represents, like the Saudis. Are you just so spooked by the sick truth in Moore's movies that you must put him down, even though you can't help but know he's right?

Re:TWA Flight 800

[Master of Transhuman]

It's people with empty skulls like yours who need the tinfoil hats to keep the rain out.

The noise of the rain on the tin also insures you'll never hear anything rational which might penetrate your delusions that all is well in the world.

Re:Why else?

[Master of Transhuman]

"Why are people on here so frictional? You got modded as insightful, but all you do is flame me."

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! THIS IS /.!

Good politicians? Jesus, that's the lamest oxymoron I've heard in a year!

How is an ID card going to give you a paper trail back to a terrorist's money?

Are you five year's old or what? Your logic is unbelievably poor.

Finally, don't assume that just because I'm against privacy invasion that I don't care about fighting more important battles. In fact, I fight the most important battle of all - getting rid of primates that have no clue.