Thursday, March 03, 2005

Laws so sensitive that we aren't allowed to know what they are.

We'll tell you when you are breaking it. Basically it is the requirement for an internal passport- that is, gov't issued ID required to board a plane.
When Gilmore asked to see the rules explaining why his photo ID is necessary for airline security, his request was denied. The regulation under which the Transportation Safety Administration, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security, instructs the airlines to collect such identification is classified as "Sensitive Security Information."

...When John Gilmore demanded proof that the airport ID rule met Constitutional muster, the government at first declined to acknowledge it even existed.

Ann Davis, a spokeswoman for TSA, tacitly acknowledged the strange rabbit hole into which Gilmore has fallen. The Department of Justice, in its first response to Gilmore's suit two years ago, declined to acknowledge whether such an instruction existed. Later, it admitted its existence. Then the government asked a judge to hold a hearing in secret and preclude Gilmore's lawyers from seeing the regulation they sought to challenge, the contents of which seem to be pretty widely known.
There is a fair bit of blahblahblah in the middle, but a worthwhile issue to think about.

Click here: Grounded: Millionaire John Gilmore stays close to home while making a point about privacy

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