http://www.tsa.gov/…

Beginning Saturday, June 21, 2008 passengers that willfully refuse to provide identification at security checkpoint will be denied access to the secure area of airports. This change will apply exclusively to individuals that simply refuse to provide any identification or assist transportation security officers in ascertaining their identity.

This new procedure will not affect passengers that may have misplaced, lost or otherwise do not have ID but are cooperative with officers. Cooperative passengers without ID may be subjected to additional screening protocols, including enhanced physical screening, enhanced carry-on and/or checked baggage screening, interviews with behavior detection or law enforcement officers and other measures.

Under the law that created TSA, the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, the TSA administrator is responsible for overseeing aviation security (P.L. 107-71) and has the authority to establish security procedures at airports (49 C.F.R. § 1540.107). Passengers that fail to comply with security procedures may be prohibited from entering the secure area of airports to catch their flight (49 C.F.R. § 1540.105(a)(2).

This initiative is the latest in a series designed to facilitate travel for legitimate passengers while enhancing the agency’s risk-based focus - on people, not things. Positively identifying passengers is an important tool in our multi-layered approach to security and one that we have significantly bolstered during the past 18 months.

I think we can now agree that the reason for the TSA’s existence is control and security theater. Ignoring this. 1. No person with malicious intent would want to raise suspicion or awareness of themselves by refusing to show identification. They’d just get false IDs. 2. How is refusing those who refuse to show ID any safer than giving them a secondary search? You’re going to let these people still walk around the airport correct? If they are strapped with explosives and refusing to provide ID they could just take out all those in the security checkpoint which very likely is backed up because of the TSA’s inefficiency.

This puts people like myself in a difficult situation. Break our principles to ease transportation or utilize ground and water based methods and hope the State doesn’t move to “secure” them. I very rarely fly so the choice at the moment is simple.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/…

Misplaced fears about terror, privacy and child protection are preventing amateur photographers from enjoying their hobby, say campaigners.

Phil Smith thought ex-EastEnder Letitia Dean turning on the Christmas lights in Ipswich would make a good snap for his collection.

The 49-year-old started by firing off a few shots of the warm-up act on stage. But before the main attraction showed up, Mr Smith was challenged by a police officer who asked if he had a licence for the camera.

After explaining he didn’t need one, he was taken down a side-street for a formal “stop and search”, then asked to delete the photos and ordered not take any more. So he slunk home with his camera.

“They [police, park wardens, security guards] seem to think you can’t take pictures of people in public places. It’s reached a point where everyone in the photographic world has become so concerned we’re mounting campaigns and trying to publicise this.”

It seems to be increasing, he says.

“There’s a great deal of paranoia around but the police are on alert for anything that vaguely resembles terrorism. It’s difficult because the more professional a photographer, paradoxically, the more likely they are to be stopped or questioned.

“If people were using photos for terrorism purposes they would be using the smallest camera possible.”

This happens in NYC a lot too and from my understanding in other small and large cities throughout the USA. My recommendation is carry around a badge that says you are a member of the press. Free Talk Live regularlly tells people that they can say they are contractors for FTL if they get harrassed by officials of the government. Obviously if you have a blog or the like you can use that. I really enjoy the fact that the UK has the most cameras watching its people per capita in the world and they hassle people for taking photos of random things.

For those who like propaganda:

http://apnews.myway.com/…

A tech company with ties to a school district plans to test a tracking system by putting computer chips on grade-schoolers’ backpacks, an experiment the ACLU ripped Monday as invasive and unnecessary.The pilot program set to start next week in the Middletown school district would have about 80 children put tags containing radio frequency identification chips, or RFID chips, on their schoolbags. It would also equip two buses with global positioning systems, or GPS devices.

The school and parents will be able to track students on the bus, and the district hopes the program will improve busing efficiency, Superintendent Rosemarie Kraeger said. The devices are intended to record only when students enter and exit the bus, and the GPS would show where the bus was on it’s route.

Parents could opt out of the program, Kraeger said.

The pilot program, made by MAP Information Technology Corp., is to run for several months at the Aquidneck School, she said. The district, which serves about 2,500 students, is the company’s only client, said Deborah Rapp, the company’s director of marketing and communications.

I don’t even understand how this is useful. Are they having problems with kids not getting on buses or jumping out windows while in transit? I’d be wrapping the RFID in a Faraday cage or would let it meet the microwave for a bit. The GPSed buses makes sense I suppose but I’m not sure how it would help improve efficiency. Just pick up a map, draw it’s route and solve.

http://www.engadget.com/…

Ah — dead, eerily-prescient, 20th century authors… they just can’t stop proving you right, can they? In a decidedly Orwellian turn, British authorities are considering a proposal to implant “machine-readable” RFID tags under the skin of some prison inmates as part of a plan to free up space in the country’s overcrowded prisons. Just like the nightmare world described in your favorite cautionary tales, the chips would enable authorities to track the location of implantees using satellite and radio-wave technology. The program would build off of the current ankle-tagging currently in place, and according to a official from the Ministry of Justice who finds the plan double-plus good, “All the options are on the table, and this is one we would like to pursue.” Of course, the controversial concept does have its detractors, Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, says that, “If the Home Office doesn’t understand why implanting a chip in someone is worse than an ankle bracelet, they don’t need a human-rights lawyer; they need a common-sense bypass.”

Do these guys understand that a traditional RFID will not be picked up by a satellite? Even an active RFID only has a 2km range from my understanding and would need to be triangulated. Are they going to be putting lots of receivers up around town? Perhaps next to their cameras or on cell towers. I wonder how many of the people they intend to implant are in jail for non-violent victimless “crimes?”

First the pets, then your creditcards and IDs, then the kids bookbags, then the criminals, then every new born and finally all those left. We are halfway there with some people voluntarily chipping themselves already.

• 10:00AM Sharon Harris from Advocates for Self-Government gave the opening speech this morning. She talked about how the liberty movement needs to start working toward honing our delivery of the freedom message. Libertarians, especially those who are active in the movement, tend to be more abstract thinkers. More logical progression of ideas whereas the majority of people are more emotional “think with the heart” types. We talk about abstract rights and wrongs and less practical examples but we need practical real world examples for those who aren’t generally like us.
• Chris Lawless informs us the hotel doesn’t want us to open carry.
• We ran into Glen Jacobs very briefly. He is better known as Kane from the WWE. He’s fairly well known as a libertarian and recently publicly supported Ron Paul for President. I believe he is also a member of the FSP. We unfortunately didn’t get an opportunity to get a photo with him but if he’s still around tomorrow or Sunday we surely will.
• 12PMish xyz and I checkin to the hotel and while walking out to the car we see the John McCain’s campaign bus. While walking in we discuss stopping Mr. McCain and telling him that after his argument with Romney over whether or not water boarding is torture we decided to try it out ourselves and agreed with him that it indeed torture. As we walk through the automatic doors into the lobby and are talking about this I nearly run into McCain as my head is turned talking to xyz behind me. I got out of the way in time however and diverted my knocking over of a 72y/o presidential candidate which would have been picked up on the camera which was following him.
• 1:00PM xyz and myself attend Gardner Goldsmith’s presentation on immigration. I listen to his radio show so little was new but it’s very enjoyable to interact with fellow Liberty Forum attendees in asking questions and whatnot. Robert Schulz of We the People Foundation also gave a very good lecture I heard. xyz and I did however get a chance to talk with him while waiting in line for dinner.
• 2:30PM I attended Don Gorman’s lecture on Becoming an Effective Activist but it effectively was a sales pitch for the FSP and how easy it is to participate in politics and protest in NH. xyz attended Peter Bagge’s presentation on his work for Reason Magazine and his art in general.
• 4:00PM Thomas Eddlem gave a lecture on how the current administration has been disobeying the Constitution. Particularly the 4th, 6th, and 8th Amendments. He however blew things out of proportion a bit in describing how it could be used against the average citizen. While it’s certainly an issue to say that it’s just as probable that I would be locked up and the key thrown away without trial is the same as some guy picked up who has the same name as a known terrorist and himself has a criminal record is ridiculous.
• Chatted with another Libertarian Party presidential candidate: Michael P. Jingozian. Reminded him that I believe he was invited to the Manhattan LP’s Annual Convention. He said he forgot to look into whether he could attend and took some contact info. We’ll see.
• Nearly had dinner with Gardner but it turned out the table we picked already was filled besides the two chairs we picked. However, those who had reserved those seats were people we had previously had discussions with during the cocktail hour. Including Ed Hudgins from The Atlas Society. Talked about hard money.
  
• The keynote speaker for the evening was Bernard von NotHaus of the Liberty Dollar. He came out dressed as the ghost of a Revolutionary solder, Capt. Roughseas, who was sent by the Founding fathers informing us to take care of this fiat money system that’s corrupted the US. Complete with sabre. It was a bit odd but generally entertaining. Nothing that probably more than half of them in attendance hadn’t heard before.

Dave Ridley’s Ridley Reports from the first night:

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/…

This somewhat cryptic blog post at Wired reflects the delight of Roger Clarke that the Australian national ID card has been dropped by the incoming government. Clarke wrote an article in 1994 that is probably fairly regarded as the foundation of identification theory. I expanded on his thinking in my book, Identity Crisis.

In related news, Montana Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester put language prohibiting the expenditure of federal funds for development of a national ID card in the omnibus spending bill Congress passed last week. Because the Department of Homeland Security denies that REAL ID is a national ID, this language is probably hortatory during the current administration.

This is great news for the Australians… now if we can get REAL ID thrown out here in the USA. The deadline for implementing it has been pushed back to 2013 and this prohibition of federal funds from being used to develop a national ID card will help. I believe the states will continue to fight this and some would probably put this new law to the test. I fail to see how the REAL ID is not a national ID given that the federal government is dictating how the states are to implement these new IDs. It may be handled by the states but the national government is the one strong arming them to do it.

Lets remember that Ron Paul is strongly against the REAL ID and voted against it.