SIVACRACY.NET: Can you board a plane without ID?

Last weekend we were flying back from Miami, where Jaya went swimming with her grandparents and saw her first spring training game. Just before we left my parents' place for the airport, I discovered that I had failed to retrieve my driver's license from the place from which I had rented a kayak the day before.

How was I going to get on the plane back to New York without a government-issued ID?

Well, we know from following John Gilmore's suit against the TSA, there is no public law that requires us to show IDs before boarding planes. There is apparently a SECRET law that no one may read yet many must enforce (and many more must obey.) This being a republic, we are not supposed to have secret laws. But we do. And that's one of them.

So should I take this opportunity to make a stand for my rights? Not if I don't want to see Melissa and Jaya take off for home, leaving me to build a life for myself in Florida ... or in federal prison or Guantanamo or some place.

I figured I should take the opportunity to see if I could talk my way onto the plane instead. I would test the security assumptions.

So I approached the Delta counter at the Fort Lauderdale airport and told the ticket agent, "I have a little problem. I lost my license yesterday."

"That's been happening to a lot of people. Do you have any other photo ID?," she said.

"This is my work ID," I said. "And I have a baby here who looks a lot like me."

"Do you have an insurance card?," she asked.

I did. I showed it. It has my name on it but no photo.

She scribbled on the bottom of my boarding pass: "Documents shown were sufficient -- Delta agent."

The security guard let me right through after I showed her the scribbling.

Amazing.

I suppose I should once again be thankful that I have health insurance. I guess that if I were among the 45 million Americans who lack health insurance, I would have had to stay in Florida.

Remember, I am a swarthy fellow with a funny, foreign name.

Next time you want to board a plane without ID (and remember, the 9/11 hijackers all showed legal ID when they boarded), just print out your boarding pass at home and scribble something about how your ID checked out or something and sign it with the name of the airline you are using. Simple. Easy. Apparently legal (with a secret law, who is to tell?)

So I got home with no problem at all. My sister sent my license to me the next day. And now I know that I am safe in the skies. Everyone else feel better now?

The story gets more absurd. Check out this article (via Xeni at Boing Boing) by Sarah Lai Stirland from National Journal's Technology Daily:

Informal survey shows lax ID checks for air travelers

An informal survey of more than 80 domestic airline travelers found that Transportation Security Administration officials often do not enforce the agency's own rule that travelers must present government-issued identification at airports.

The TSA rule mandates that airline travelers present at least one form of such ID at security checkpoints.

Many of the travelers responding to the survey had forgotten their identification or it was stolen, or their driver's licenses had expired. Many of those who recounted their experiences at the airports said TSA screeners subjected them to extra security checks but allowed them to board the aircraft.

Other travelers were allowed to board planes after showing several forms of non-government identification, such as credit cards or school ID cards.

The survey was undertaken by a group of three activists calling themselves "The Identity Project." They are concerned about the inefficient and overly intrusive security policies implemented by the government. John Gilmore, a founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is a member.

Gilmore previously had mounted a legal challenge to TSA's identification rule. He charged that the requirement to present government-issued identification violates his First Amendment right to meet and associate with others. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in January ruled against Gilmore. Gilmore is appealing the decision.

The survey was completed by people who responded to the group's request for information about their experiences at airports when they had traveled without any forms of identification deemed valid by TSA.

"This was the first time someone has 'reverse-engineered' the process to find out what it takes to get on an airline without identification," said Bill Scannell, an activist who helped organize the survey and who is also Gilmore's publicist.

The group decided to conduct the survey after the circuit court decision, Scannell said. The judges told Gilmore that he could have subjected himself to a secondary screening process rather than present any identification when taking a flight.

But TSA has not made that choice clear to travelers, Scannell said. "This is a nation of laws. People should just be able to say: 'Give me the secondary,'" he said. "People shouldn't have to say: The dog ate my homework."

An agency spokeswoman confirmed that passengers can pass through its security systems without valid ID if they go through a secondary screening procedure.