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John Gilmore's Search for the Mandatory ID Law

Posted by Zonk on from the when-making-things-easy-isn't-a-good-idea dept.

powerline22 writes "John Gilmore, the millionare who cofounded the EFF, has been prohibited from travelling because he refused to show an ID while boarding an airplane. He's been under this self-imposed ban since 2002. From the article: "The gate agent asked for his ID. Gilmore asked her why. It is the law, she said. Gilmore asked to see the law. Nobody could produce a copy. To date, nobody has. The regulation that mandates ID at airports is 'Sensitive Security Information.' The law, as it turns out, is unavailable for inspection. What started out as a weekend trip to Washington became a crawl through the courts in search of an answer to Gilmore's question: Why?"

9 of 1,568 comments (clear)

  1. I like pie! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Pie pie pie!

  2. Article says what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Sun Microsystems created Unix? Article wtf.

  3. Yikes by bebing · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    "He was employee No. 5 at Sun Microsystems, which made Unix, the free software of the Web, the world standard."

  4. Re:Let's be frank by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Hmm. Well I was talking about DC. You may be on to something with state, though. I wouldn't really know, of course, since I've never been there, but I do hear the weather in Seattle is pretty depressing.

  5. Re:Unfortunately, John WAS allowed to travel w/o I by agurkan · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    FYI, quoting does not require using quotes. To quote means: 1. a : to speak or write (a passage) from another usually with credit acknowledgment b : to repeat a passage from especially in substantiation or illustration, 4: to set off by quotation marks. (from m-w.com).

    Let me rephrase: You left out an important piece of information while reproducing information elsewhere.

    Your discussion of types of search is not only irrelevant but so ridicilous that it makes me think you are deliberately trying to mud the waters so people will not see the point.

    --
    ato
  6. Re:The real reason for ID by khallow · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    On the other hand, if you have a secret govt law requiring that you show ID to get on the airplane, you get lots of bad press, and someone suing for constituational reasons. Sounds to me like the airlines did this the hard way if they were just trying to keep people from trading tickets.

    Let's consider the penalties from a) pretending you're someone else to use their ticket, if all you did was violate airline policy, versus b) breaking a "secret" federal government law (SSI isn't secret just public information that most federal employees can't dissiminate) and possibly facing significant jail time. And that bad press isn't directed at the airline.

  7. Re:So by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Hate goths? - You will now!

  8. Re:So by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    There's a difference between goths and attention whoring poseurs.

    And while that blog does seem to belong to an attention whoring poser, a link to that blog does not seem to belong Here.

  9. ehhhhhhhhh by GoMMiX · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    "He was employee No. 5 at Sun Microsystems, which made Unix, the free software of the Web, the world standard."

    WHA? O_o

    Problems:
    1) Sun invented Unix
    2) Unix = Free Software of the Web
    3) WTF!?