John Gilmore on new House driver's license/nat'l ID bill [priv]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Some background on John's lawsuit is here:
http://papersplease.org/gilmore/


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Politech] Analysis of new driver's license/national ID 
House bill [priv]
Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2005 15:50:01 -0800
From: John Gilmore <gnu () toad com>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
CC: politech () politechbot com

James Plummer forgot one important thing about the national networked
ID card the Feds are trying to create.  The Federal government can't
force state governments to do anything about this.  It's the choice of
the states whether to become more intrusive or less intrusive about
their citizens' privacy.

Here's the catch.  If your state doesn't knuckle under to the Feds,
nobody from your state will be allowed to travel after the deadline.

The "intel bill" (9/11 Intelligence Reorg law) specifies that non-
compliant IDs will not be accepted "for federal purposes" after two
years.  Getting TSA's permission to get on a plane is a "federal purpose".

In a non-insane country, the Federal government would be unable to
threaten to take away its citizens' right to travel inside the
country.  The right to travel is protected by the Constitution (you
can't assemble unless you can travel) and by many Supreme Court
decisions.  But the courts have taken years to chew on this question,
and meanwhile there are guys with guns in airports and train stations,
keeping ME from traveling.

Most people just don't believe their OWN travel will ever be
restricted by the Federal government, therefore they don't protest.
When they have living proof, it'll be too late.

        John


_______________________________________________
Politech mailing list
Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)