Previous Politech messages: http://www.politechbot.com/2005/03/24/new-national-id/ http://www.politechbot.com/2005/02/09/john-gilmore-on/ http://www.politechbot.com/p-04973.html Some background on John's lawsuit is here: http://papersplease.org/gilmore/ -Declan -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: "The Safe Side of the ID Debate" Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 11:28:09 -0800 From: John Gilmore <gnu@private> To: center@private, gnu@private CC: declan@private [This is in response to http://www.cis.org/articles/2005/mskoped32205.html ] Mr. Krikorian, Thank you for your discussion of the REAL ID act. As a US citizen without an ID, I find your arguments unconvincing. You are correct that "regular people have been producing government-issued photo IDs 'for everyday commercial and financial tasks' for a very long time." The distinction that you aren't drawing is between having to identify yourself because another person won't do a voluntary transaction with you without it, and having to identify yourself to exercise your constitutional rights, or because the government has required it. No law requires me to have an ID. I don't have one, precisely because I want to be the canary in the coal mine. I want to know how many rights an honest, hard-working, un-documented person still has. The only way to find out is to live that way. I'll tell you what I've learned. I have many bank accounts; I'm a wealthy man. My signature and my money were always good enough for the commercial purposes of the banks and brokers involved. But now I can't open another account, because the PATRIOT Act demands an ID that the banks don't themselves need. Will the next law require that my banks close all my existing accounts? I won't be able to have a checkbook or a debit card without getting a government-issued ID? I'll have to keep my money in my mattress and my stock certificates buried in the backyard? It's already that way for young people who haven't opened their first account. I have flown as a commercial air passenger for decades. But I haven't been able to travel in my own country since 9/11. Not just the planes, but the trains and ships and many of the buses now demand "government-issued photo ID". So does driving a car, of course. I'm effectively under regional arrest, unless I can find a car driver who will take me as a passenger. No common carrier will carry me, despite their requirement to serve the entire public; they've been ordered not to by the government. The ID demand is justified by checking it against a list of "terrorists". These are not terrorists -- they are terrorist *suspects*. No conservative has questioned whether the Executive Branch has the power to make an enemies list of suspects, without warrants, charges, proof, judges, juries, or convictions, and deny fundamental constitutional rights to the people on that list. I question it. Will you? I've been invited to speak to conferences. I couldn't speak there because the government ID demand prevented me from traveling to where the audience was. This is a direct violation of my First Amendment right to speak. Texas tried to require ID from non-Texan speakers many years ago, and arrested a Missouri labor organizer for failure to register. He won his case; that requirement was unconstitutional. I've been unable to meet with business associates, family, and friends. This is a direct violation of my freedom of assembly. I am pursuing a constitutional lawsuit against these restrictions on my constitutional rights of free movement, speech, and assembly. I can't enter the federal court buildings where my suit is being heard. That's a violation of my right to petition the government for redress of grievances. The relevant statute requires that federal buildings be open to the public. Not the ID-waving public -- the public. It is being ignored. There is no statute that authorizes ID checks in airports. A series of secret directives from FAA and TSA mandate the practice. What was once a search "limited to weapons and explosives, and no more intrusive than necessary for that purpose" (US v. Davis) has become a general warrant, despite the Fourth Amendmenet. The Executive Branch was quick to seize this power; where are the conservatives who will tell it no? As a conservative, I ask you to look at these facts and tell me honestly that our historic freedom to travel, to speak, to associate, to assemble, to petition, to be free from arbitrary search, is being conserved. Instead it is being destroyed, by secret Executive Branch directives. And in your article, you advocated that the Legislative Branch join the Executive in validating and expanding this destruction. If you believe that people without IDs should be unpersons, able only to live on the street because they can't get a job, rent an apartment, have a bank account, speak to their representative, or move around the country, the honest thing to do is to advocate for a law that requires every person to get an ID. Let it be debated. Let its constitutionality be tested. Instead, you advocate further creeping restrictions on who is permitted to have an ID, and what they are permitted to do without it. That's intellectually dishonest. Your article's best example of why better IDs are needed was a quote from the decidedly non-conservative 9/11 Commission report: "Fraud in identification documents is no longer just a problem of theft. At many entry points to vulnerable facilities, including gates for boarding aircraft, sources of identification are the last opportunity to ensure that people are who they say they are and to check whether they are terrorists." They, and you, ignored the fact that Americans have a constitutional right to move around their own country freely -- whether they use airplanes, trains, buses, horses, or their own feet. The government of a free country cannot "ensure that people are who they say they are" by throwing up a checkpoint and demanding papers. Even in airports. Are you living in a free country? I'm not. The REAL ID Act is not the only alternative to a national ID card, as you claim. A principled conservation of our fundamental rights and freedoms is an alternative to a national ID card. I hope you will join me in such conservation. John Gilmore PO Box 170608 San Francisco, California, USA 94117 +1 415 221 6524 voice gnu@private http://papersplease.org (details on my travel lawsuit) http://www.toad.com (my home page) _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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