airport security

Fly Safe, Fly Without ID

This is an old one, but because I’m in the air again today it’s worth digging up this up. Defense Tech long ago pointed out The Identity Project‘s position on showing ID for air travel:

If a 19 year-old college student can get a fake ID to drink, why couldn’t a bad person get one, too? And no matter how sophisticated the security embedded into the ID, wouldn’t a well-financed terrorist be able to falsify that, too? The answer to both questions is obviously ‘yes’.

Honest people, on the other hand, go to Pro-Life rallies. Honest people go to Pro-Choice rallies, too. Honest people attend gun shows. Honest people protest the actions of the President of the United States. Honest people fly to political conventions. What if those with the power to put people on a ‘no fly’ list decided that they didn’t like the reason for which you wanted to travel? The honest people wouldn’t be going anywhere.

Yes it’s laughable, but…

I get as frustrated with airport security as the next guy (and I’m plenty doubtful of its effectiveness), but really, if you don’t yet know liquids aren’t allowed, and you hold up the one security line at a small airport at an ungodly early hour, it’d be nicer if you didn’t laugh like a kid at a theme park about it. Yes it’s farcical, but not funny.