Papers, Please!

The Identity Project

Sep 16 2007

Tell the Feds what you think of their plans

The Transportation Security Administration will hold a public hearing in Washington, DC, this Thursday morning, September 20, 2007 on the TSA’s so-called Secure Flight scheme to require government-issued travel credentials and individualized, explicit, prior permission for all domestic airline travelers within the U.S., and to subject us to government-compelled search and interrogation by private commercial third parties whenever we fly.

The hearing is open to the public, and you can sign up to speak on site with the TSA staff beginning at 8:00 a.m. Thursday at the Grand Hyatt Washington, 1000 H Street, N.W. (2 blocks from Metro Center station).

The Identity Project will be there to give our comments in person. We are also submitting detailed written comments on what’s wrong with this scheme. If you can make it, we encourage you to come out too, and tell the TSA what you think of their plans.

If you can’t make it to the hearing, you can submit comments to the TSA online. You can submit comments anonymously, and you don’t have to be a U.S. citizen or resident

Sep 07 2007

Ninth Circuit dismisses ID to enter courthouse case

The Foti v. McHugh case challenging the identification requirement to enter a courthouse was dismissed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week in a startlingly dismissive manner. Despite the court’s appointment the law firm of Fenwick & West to act as pro bono counsel (IDP acting as co-counsel) for appellants after they had completed their own briefings pro se, the complete rebriefing of the case by all parties, and the oral argument last April, the court dismissed the case by means of an unpublished memorandum deficient of any meaningful legal analysis.

Appellant Foti was denied access to the Federal courthouse when he tried to enter it to represent himself when contesting a motion to dismiss in a case he had brought on a separate matter against the Federal government. Foti does not have ID and correctly states that no law requires him to get one – only that there are assorted punishments for not doing so. Foti was denied access to the court to argue on his behalf because he doesn’t own ID and his case was dismissed. Foti then brought another suit challenging the requirement to show ID to enter the courthouse which was then dismissed by the District Court and that dismissal is now affirmed by the Appellate Court.

The two-page memorandum simply states that Foti, and his friend Augustine who tried to accompany him and also owns no ID, “do not have a constitutional right to enter the federal building anonymously.” The court then cited two cases that did not support their statement.

Unfortunately, the question presented to the court was not whether anyone has a constitutional right to do anything anonymously, but rather whether the identification requirement itself is an impediment to the free exercise of appellants many important and protected constitutional rights exercised in the courthouse. This was brooked absolutely no analysis. By dismissing this case in such an off-hand manner the court is desperately trying to screw back on the lid of something they wish they had never opened. However, in doing so, they have screwed the lid on crooked and this matter will not remain contained.

Stay tuned.

Sep 06 2007

Identity Project responds to proposals for restrictions on travel

Continuing our work to expose governments’ efforts to control our movements through checkpoints, government records of where we go and what we do, government-issued credentials and travel documents, and other schemes to require, “Your papers, please!”, the Identity Project has filed formal
comments recently with the Department of Fatherland Security on its latest schemes
to monitor and control our travels:

  • Comments of the Identity Project on proposed exemptions from the Privacy Act for secret derogatory information from airlines and travel companes stored in personal travel histories (along with records of activities protected by the First Amendment) and used against would-be travelers as part of the “Automated Targeting System”: comments, background
  • Comments of the Identity Project on proposed requirements for passports or other government-issued credentials for all travel across U.S. borders, including land travel to and from Canada and travel by U.S. citizens seeking to leave, or return to, the U.S., as part of the “Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative”: comments, background
Aug 12 2007

DHS proposes to require both ID papers and passes for all air travel

In a series of recent publications in the Federal Register, the Department of Homeland Security is proposing a comprehensive new system of surveillance and, perhaps more important, control of both domestic and international travelers.

The proposed new rules, which are currently open for public comments, would require that:

  1. All would-be international travellers to or from the USA (even US citizens crossing the U.S.-Canada border on foot) would have to have government-issued ID credentials
  2. All would-be passengers on international or domestic flights to, from, over, via, or within the U.S. would have to have both government-issued ID credentials and explicit case-by-case prior permission from the DHS to the airline to allow each passenger to board a plane.

The proposed rules would enforce the requirements for papers and permits through default provisions that would:

  1. Require all air travellers to show their papers (“government-issued photo ID”) to airline staff on request of the DHS, under penalty of denial of transportation.
  2. Forbid any airline from issuing a boarding pass to anyone, or allowing them to baord a plane, unless and until the airline received individual permission (a “cleared message”) authorizing that airline to allow that specific person on that specific flight.

The “Notices of Proposed Rulemaking” (NPRM) and Privacy (invasion) Act “System of Records Notices (SORNs) dismiss the right ot travel out of hand, and ignore provisions of international law, the Bill of Rights, and Federal law recognizing a right to free domestic and international movement and a “public right of transit” by air, requiring airlines to operate as “common carriers” and transport all passengers paying the fare in their published tariff, and requiring the DHS itself to condider these rights in its rulemaking.

If you haven’t gotten the proper papers, you won’t be allowed even to leave the country, much less to return home. If the government doesn’t choose to give the airline permission for any particular trip you want to take, you won’t be allowed to get on a plane. And any time any airline employee or agent says, “Papers, please!”, you’ll have to produce them for their private inspection, copying, and use for whatever purposes they want.
Among other problems, this amounts to a general order subjecting travelers to private searches, and allowing the private searchers to use any information obtained from those searches for their own commercial or other purposes. Since it is impossible to tell who is, and who is not, actually authorized to act on behalf of the government or to whom an airline has delegated its work, the proposed rules would effectively subject travelers to compulsory search by anyone in any airport claiming (unverifiably) to be an agent of an airline.

Jun 29 2007

Former Congressman Bob Barr opposes Real ID

Bob Barr is a former conservative hate-monger who somehow found his moral compass. He is now preaching tolerance of gays in the military, ending the drug war, repealing Real National ID, and most recently taking the Real National ID requirement out of the immigration bill. He is the first politician who straightforwardly says, “no America citizen should have to prove to a government entity who they are in order to obtain or retain employment.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

The thread that runs through all these issues is honoring the rights of individuals to make their own choices without being tracked or coerced by the nanny state. Welcome to your sanity, Bob; we hope you keep it a long time.

Jun 26 2007

Today is Your Day to Stop Real ID

We have less than 48 hours to stop our nation from having a National ID card scheme.

The US Senate is scheduled to vote either today or tomorrow on two amendments that will remove Real ID provisions from the immigration bill.

Real ID is a very, very real national identification card. Sixteen states have passed legislation rejecting REAL ID: now it’s time for the Senate to do their part.

You can fax your Senators and take immediate action by visiting:

http://unrealid.com/action.html