Flying in the United States sans ID

There are a couple of Web articles that I came across today about flying in the US without government-issued ID. One involves flying out of San Francisco, and the other out of Dulles, quite a different kettle of fish.

First, SFO: This is in Wired's Web site. John Gilmore, one of the founder's of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, spoke at a meeting of the Department of Homeland Security; Gilmore sued the DHS for the right to fly without ID a year or so ago, and he challenged any of the members of an advisory committee to the DHS to fly home without their ID. One person took him up on it, taking a Wired reporter along to watch.

People without ID get "selectee screening," and this case was no exception. The extra screening included the puffer and swabbing, and our test pigeon was through before people in the regular line got through. The reporter, watching from outside the secure area and taking notes, was approached and questioned but let alone.

Our other test pigeon got rougher treatment. Edward Hasbrouck is "The Practical Nomad," and has a very good Web site and several books on travel; I recommend his Web site for general information on travel and the travel industry. He seems to do a very good, very thorough job.

Unfortunately, Mr. Hasbrouck picked Dulles to ask some pointed questions about who was whom when a person asked for his ID and ticket before Mr. Hasbrouck was allowed to go to the checkpoint for screening. Mr. Hasbrouck, as I have noted, is a travel writer, and he is also interested in privacy. When asked for his ID and ticket, Mr. Hasbrouck questioned (politely) under what authority that person asked for ID. This set off a chain of events that led to the summoning of police and rather impolite treatment of the writer.

Mr. Hasbrouck's blog tells the story of his attempt to be screened as a selectee instead of showing ID. In John Gilmore's suit against the DHS, Mr. Gilmore alleged that the TSA's travel policies were an invasion of privacy by requiring him to show ID or not travel. The government's response was that he could travel, just not by airline, and that he could opt not to show ID by choosing selectee screening. The court accepted these arguments.

In Mr. Hasbrouck's case, though, he was forbidden to elect selectee screening and required to show ID. When he showed his boarding pass and ID, the TSA officer summoned by the Airserv employee called the cops. After some rude treatment, Mr. Hasbrouck was allowed to pass through the checkpoint, where he was selected for secondary screening, which included making photocopies of some of his personal papers.

Mr. Hasbrouck then called various agencies to ask about these procedures, but the answers were both unresponsive and unsatisfactory. According to the court in Gilmore v. Gonzalez, the requirements for ID are classified, meaning we ordinary individuals cannot read them.

It had been my hope that federalizing the people who conduct inspections of our persons and things at airports would lead to general agreement on policies and items allowed, but that clearly has not been the case. It's very depressing to find such disparate treatment of passengers. And it's also depressing to find that people in a position to know the rules refuse to disclose them. And the people requesting our IDs and boarding passes appear to be in the Twilight Zone as far as authority goes. Neither the TSA nor the airline claims them.

While I understand and support the requirements for idenitification and the need for selectee searches for those who refuse to show ID, I do not understand why the laws are not followed by those who are supposed to enforce them.

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