RSSEFF Founder Under Self-Imposed Interdict
John Gilmore bought a ticket to fly from Oakland to Washington, D.C. and upon arrival at the airport, was asked to present identification.
"Why?" he asked.
Because it's the law, they told him.
But when he challenged this and asked to see the law, no one could produce a copy. And that's because you're not allowed to see that law. It's considered "sensitive information".
This thought-provoking article looks at John Gilmore, the founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the group that broke DES encryption in 1998 to prove a point. The point was that there needs to be serious, informed dialogue on matters of security and privacy, and that the government does not have all of the answers. And this latest move by the privacy advocate is similar in thrust. He can't fly, ride Amtrak, or drive a car, because he refuses to present identification. And he won't, because no one can show him where the law says he has to.
"Are they just basically saying we just can't travel without identity papers? If that's true, then I'd rather see us go through a real debate that says we want to introduce required identity papers in our society rather than trying to legislate it through the back door through regulations that say there's not any other way to get around," Gilmore said. "Basically what they want is a show of obedience."
The very concept of a hidden law in the context of a democracy is absurd. In theory, we, the people, wrote and ratified those laws. There should be no such thing as a law that is not in the public domain, and I don't care whether the government says it's for my own good.
