Exercise Your Right To Fly Anonymously
Mar 6, 2006 | 3:18 pm
#16
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Originally Posted by alex0683de
Fair enough. However, even with the government involved, what exactly is the problem you have with showing ID? It's useless for security, I agree, but what is it about showing your ID that annoys you so much? It's not like the IDs are recorded and your movements tracked, I would object to that as well, but I have no problem with showing my ID to some dolt who sees so many of them each day that he could care less about who you are, as long as you're the person whose name appears on the boarding pass.
Even if this guy is paid by the government, and complying with a government regulation, what does it matter? You're still anonymous, just one of thousands of flyers each day, it's just that some guy has matched the name on a little plastic card with your name on it against a name on a boarding pass. So what?
Where exactly is your problem with this? Is it about the waste of $$, or do you take issue with something else?
This is not meant as a criticism or anything along those lines, I'm just trying to understand where you're coming from.
Even if this guy is paid by the government, and complying with a government regulation, what does it matter? You're still anonymous, just one of thousands of flyers each day, it's just that some guy has matched the name on a little plastic card with your name on it against a name on a boarding pass. So what?
Where exactly is your problem with this? Is it about the waste of $$, or do you take issue with something else?
This is not meant as a criticism or anything along those lines, I'm just trying to understand where you're coming from.
It's because many of us are old enough to remember a time with more pride and less fear.
Mar 6, 2006 | 3:29 pm
#17
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Originally Posted by whirledtraveler
It's because many of us are old enough to remember a time with more pride and less fear.
Still not getting it. What does showing your ID have to do with pride, or lack thereof? Perhaps it's my European upbringing, but I honestly don't understand why it's such a big deal for some Americans to have people know who they are, or at least having these people know they are who they say they are (by virtue of their boarding pass).
I usually take a pretty liberal stance when it comes to governments checking what their citizens are doing, but in this case, I fail to see the harm or the impact on privacy, since there's no storage of data.
On international flights, I would see a problem, especially if inbound to the US as a non-US citizen. I no longer visit the States because I don't trust the current US administration with the slightest bit of my personal information. However, since on US domestic flights, the ID is only verified and no information is being stored, I honestly cannot understand what the big deal is.
Mar 6, 2006 | 3:33 pm
#18
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Originally Posted by alex0683de
Fair enough. However, even with the government involved, what exactly is the problem you have with showing ID? It's useless for security, I agree, but what is it about showing your ID that annoys you so much? It's not like the IDs are recorded and your movements tracked, I would object to that as well, but I have no problem with showing my ID to some dolt who sees so many of them each day that he could care less about who you are, as long as you're the person whose name appears on the boarding pass.
Even if this guy is paid by the government, and complying with a government regulation, what does it matter? You're still anonymous, just one of thousands of flyers each day, it's just that some guy has matched the name on a little plastic card with your name on it against a name on a boarding pass. So what?
Where exactly is your problem with this? Is it about the waste of $$, or do you take issue with something else?
This is not meant as a criticism or anything along those lines, I'm just trying to understand where you're coming from.
Even if this guy is paid by the government, and complying with a government regulation, what does it matter? You're still anonymous, just one of thousands of flyers each day, it's just that some guy has matched the name on a little plastic card with your name on it against a name on a boarding pass. So what?
Where exactly is your problem with this? Is it about the waste of $$, or do you take issue with something else?
This is not meant as a criticism or anything along those lines, I'm just trying to understand where you're coming from.
Mar 6, 2006 | 3:38 pm
#19
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Originally Posted by alex0683de
I usually take a pretty liberal stance when it comes to governments checking what their citizens are doing, but in this case, I fail to see the harm or the impact on privacy, since there's no storage of data.
There is also offshore storage and processing of data -- including of data stolen by agents of the US government offshore -- to get around US laws and the laws of several other countries. The matching of ID and data being stored/processed may not be from the same source, but they are often married and at least occasionally used by US authorities. Certainly erodes privacy too, or does worse.
Mar 6, 2006 | 4:15 pm
#20
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Originally Posted by alex0683de
Still not getting it. What does showing your ID have to do with pride, or lack thereof? Perhaps it's my European upbringing, but I honestly don't understand why it's such a big deal for some Americans to have people know who they are, or at least having these people know they are who they say they are (by virtue of their boarding pass).
I usually take a pretty liberal stance when it comes to governments checking what their citizens are doing, but in this case, I fail to see the harm or the impact on privacy, since there's no storage of data.
On international flights, I would see a problem, especially if inbound to the US as a non-US citizen. I no longer visit the States because I don't trust the current US administration with the slightest bit of my personal information. However, since on US domestic flights, the ID is only verified and no information is being stored, I honestly cannot understand what the big deal is.
Ah, but it is stored. Without the ID requirement all they have a record of a flight booked in your name, anyone could've flown. With the ID requirement, they have a record that you flew on a particular flight. Never mind that people can forge identification, it is a stored record.
Mar 6, 2006 | 5:23 pm
#22
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Originally Posted by whirledtraveler
Ah, but it is stored. Without the ID requirement all they have a record of a flight booked in your name, anyone could've flown. With the ID requirement, they have a record that you flew on a particular flight. Never mind that people can forge identification, it is a stored record.
Originally Posted by doober
I believe you answered your own question.
Mar 6, 2006 | 5:35 pm
#23
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Originally Posted by alex0683de
So what you're saying is that the problem you have is not really being forced to show ID, but no longer being able to fly under an assumed name if you wanted to because of the ID requirement?
I refuse to identify myself if I do not have to. I don't want my government forcing me to identify myself without a really good reason to do so. Traveling by air is not a really good reason. An airline wanting to protect its revenue is a more palatable reason to ask me for ID or at least some questions that would identify me as the purchaser/traveler, but when the government tells me I must show ID or be haraSSSSed when I fly, I want to tell that government to go pound sand and replace those in government responsible for such asinine mandates.
Mar 6, 2006 | 5:53 pm
#24
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Originally Posted by Spiff
...The airlines that make it too much of a pain in the ... would rightly lose business to those who choose to eliminate or make the process painless...
Mar 6, 2006 | 5:56 pm
#25
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Originally Posted by Spiff
I don't even show my ID when asked to by a store clerk if I am using my credit card...
Now just wait till they start outlawing cash. They're already trying to do that.
I paid cash for new car once, and they threw a damn fit!
M8
Mar 6, 2006 | 6:09 pm
#26
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IDs at hotels
Once in a while, a hotel demands to see my ID at checkin. I always refuse. Some of them bluff and pretend that they won't check me in, but I call their bluff. It always leads to a nice long conversation with the manager on duty about the various purposes served, if any, by the ID check. And I always get checked in eventually, after having spread around some badly needed education!
The most recent such incident was at Marriott Crystal Gateway on February 25.
Bruce
The most recent such incident was at Marriott Crystal Gateway on February 25.
Bruce
Mar 6, 2006 | 6:43 pm
#27
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Originally Posted by bdschobel
Once in a while, a hotel demands to see my ID at checkin. I always refuse. Some of them bluff and pretend that they won't check me in, but I call their bluff. It always leads to a nice long conversation with the manager on duty about the various purposes served, if any, by the ID check. And I always get checked in eventually, after having spread around some badly needed education!
The most recent such incident was at Marriott Crystal Gateway on February 25.
Bruce
The most recent such incident was at Marriott Crystal Gateway on February 25.
Bruce
Mar 6, 2006 | 7:39 pm
#28
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 125
I think Spiff is onto something here. I initially thought checking ID was harmless but it got me thinking about my irritations on personal info tracking. Go to Vegas and every casino wants you to sign up for their slot card. Why? To track your gambling habits; what you play, how often, the amount you play and a myriad of other variables.
Shop at Von's, Safeway, Albertson's and they all require you to sign up for their club card to get the discounts. Same deal, they track your spending habits. I have all the store club cards on my key ring but refuse to provide any personal data. It's nobody's business what I buy.
Technology is a wonderful thing but I'm sure these companies are selling and trading my personal information. I get uneasy when I receive a coupon printout with my grocery bill for an odd product I know I bought 3 weeks ago. I feel my privacy has been invaded or at least that of my pseudo identities of Mickey Mouse, SuperMan and Albert Einstein.
Shop at Von's, Safeway, Albertson's and they all require you to sign up for their club card to get the discounts. Same deal, they track your spending habits. I have all the store club cards on my key ring but refuse to provide any personal data. It's nobody's business what I buy.
Technology is a wonderful thing but I'm sure these companies are selling and trading my personal information. I get uneasy when I receive a coupon printout with my grocery bill for an odd product I know I bought 3 weeks ago. I feel my privacy has been invaded or at least that of my pseudo identities of Mickey Mouse, SuperMan and Albert Einstein.
Mar 6, 2006 | 7:46 pm
#30
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Originally Posted by Martinis at 8
Just had a PM conversation.
What about people you meet who then go "google" you?
What about people you meet who then go "google" you?
Identity disclosure politics -- including online-related ones -- are gaining steam? It seems so, but mostly far from home and less at home than should be the case.