I think our best bet is for someone to bring such an action and hope for a reasonably friendly trial court which would enjoin the government from enforcing the Real ID Act until the case can be heard, and then through the appeal process. We might lose at the Supreme Court level, but this would buy time for some real public debate about the issues it raises. As you may recall, there was absolutely no debate in Congress over this law, since it was tacked on as a rider to the Hurricane Katrina relief bill, which no one wanted to slow down.

And how about a First Amendment right of assembly and anonymity argument? Plus a re-visit of John Gilmore’s action about ‘secret laws’, but avoiding the jurisdictional problems.

And, a lot of open space where folk who want to live “off the radar” can get by as long as they can cope with freakin’ cold, and lot’s of snow. (hi Al)

Don’t give The Governor of NH too much credit for
brokering an eleventh hour “extension” to national Real ID provisions, it’s against the NH law to enjoin such a measure. One of the few measures of late that was actually put before “The People” to decide. with pencil and ballot.

No, I don’t buy it, at least no more than a little bit. I have often bought non-refundable train tickets (for which the same argument would surely apply), and nobody has ever asked me to provide ID to catch a train. Often the tickets have been completely transferrable and haven’t specified the name of the traveller at all. (The exception is perhaps the Eurostar between London and Paris, but even in this case the only ID checks I can recall were at the immigration desk). It may seem hard to remember now, but it was fairly easy to travel in the US on a ticket in someone else’s name even 10 years ago.

In Australia, where one again the same argument would apply, it is quite easy to fly without showing ID. You buy a domestic ticket, don’t check any luggage, and either checkin online or at one of those machines in the departure terminal. There are usually no ID checks at security or the gate, so you just go through onto the plane. The security checks themselves are fairly strict, but there is not usually an ID check at the same time. There are certainly laws in case specifying that you carry ID, but checks are minimal. It may vary a bit from airport to airport, but I have flown quite a few times in the last couple of years without showing ID at all. The first time it happened I was quite surprised, as after all the travel in Europe and the US I have done in recent years it felt quite strange.

I don’t suspect that private security arrangements would be much more lax, either. After all, airlines and airports alike have insurance premiums to pay. Letting any random sod who can get a ticket on the plane isn’t likely to be a practice smiled upon by actuaries, and airlines would probably require screening by any airport they service.

I personally wrote a letter to the governor encouraging him not to request the extension, and suggesting that he have the state initiate a lawsuit challenging this law. He did the former, and I still hope he does the latter (either alone or in conjunction with one of the other non-compliant states). We need to nip this in the bud.

If someone could explain to me why any identification at all is needed to board a plane – other than that the government just wants to know where you are going – then I’d be most grateful for the explanation.

Much of the ID charade at airports is driven by the airlines, for revenue protection reasons. Otherwise, rather than waste a non-refundable ticket, you might give it to a friend or relative.

Incidentally, according to a chap I was sat next to once (who’s in the trade, as it were) there is huge market in ticket resale in India, despite the ID checks. He claimed that this was due to so many people having the same name, when written in western, latin form. Apparently, one can find ads where, in addition to the flight details, the pax name is also listed. “Anybody called Sanjay Patel want to fly to Delhi?” style of thing.