EU steps into digital rights debate

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Isn't that what courts do?

---Although now, in this case, you indicate that the two are inextricably linked.---

I don't know if the two issues are inextricably linked in general, but they both are addressed by this case in particular.

---The scenarios you mentioned, secret mission etc, do not require giving up your anonimity, as there are ways to travel other than a plane. Now if your mission was top secret, why in the world, knowing that you will have to produce ID, would you not find a more anonymous means of transportation?---

But why should you have to do this? Why be inconvenienced for no reason at all? Why be restricted for no reason at all?

---You mention a slippery slope, what kind of slope would there be if anyone, including wanted criminals, convicted child molesters and the like, were allowed to travel anonymously along with unknowing citizens on a plane?---

Uh, both of those things happen every day. There's no law saying a convicted child molester, once released from prison, can't travel on a plane. And I don't believe that's the sort of profiling the TSA is doing with their lists of names.

---What if one of these characters stole your plane ticket, or pretended to be you when purchasing the ticket, and used the opportunity to commit a crime, afterall your name is on the ticket.----

That's exactly the point. The real criminal/terrorist will find obtaining a fake ID to be no hurdle at all. It does nothing to curtail their activities. The only people hurt are law abiding citizens without government ID, law abiding citizens whose ID is stolen, people concerned with privacy, and apparently people who happen to have the same name as someone on the no-fly list. Requiring ID does absolutely no good whatsoever. More on this here:
http://www.papersplease.org/gilmore/id.html

---If a person doesn't have ID then I refer you back to the vagrancy laws, nothing secret there---

Can you point me to some specific laws? I find it confusing, in that we don't have a national ID card required by law, yet we insist on everyone having some sort of ID. Which is it? Am I required by law to have government issued identification on my person at all times? Isn't that the first step towards a more authoritarian system? Then you put an RFID tag in each one....

--- What benefit to the authorities would a secret law have, especially when there are "unsecret" laws that serve the exact same purpose?---

A great question. Why refuse to reveal a law that everyone knows about, or is told about by airline officials? We all know we have to show ID at the airport, why not admit there's a law? Why the secrecy?

---Possibly, but I see him as making a mockery out of the legal system---

I don't think he's out to mock anything. The whole case is being handled very seriously and is attracting support from many groups. He is not doing this as a joke. He's using the system as it's meant to be used. He perceives an injustice and is trying to work within the system to correct it. He may or may not be right, but that's what we're supposed to do as Americans. It's our right and our obligation.

---I also don't believe that "open to interpretation" is a good way to describe the upholding of the constitution---

Isn't that what the Supreme Court does with nearly every decision they make? Don't courts constantly rule on the constitutionality of new laws? Doesn't that require interpretation of the Constitution?

Let me know what your research turns up, I think this is a fascinating case and would love to learn more.

I know it gets over-used, but this quote is particularly apt here:

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin

Posted by: tic swayback   Posted on: 02/11/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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