John Gilmore, GAM
Recently, the feds and the airlines have begun testing a program whereby "pre-screened" frequent flyers now have the privilege of using a special security line at certain airports. This involves the traveler going in to a TSA location and having their iris scanned and their fingerprints taken, and a background check performed, and who knows-what-other-invasions-of-privacy. People are willing to do this, presumably, because they've decided that giving up freedom is worth saving a little time and hassle. Hey, having been among the most frequent flyers in the world before, I know that saving ten minutes every time I go through the airport can add up to a good half day worth of time over a year. Saving 30... well, you get the picture.
Here's the problem with this whole situation. I don't trust anybody with that information. Not you, not the TSA, not the airlines, and not the government. To put it most simply, trust is supposed to be a two-way street. You trust them, and they trust you. Well, clearly, the government and the corporations do not trust you. Why should you trust them? Sure, you say, they trust me. It's just that they have to be vigilant against certain unsavory elements, so they have to trust and verify. Fine. Again, how do we as citizens and consumers implement the verification aspect of that? The answer is that in many cases, we cannot. There is an imbalance of power, and you better believe that where there is an imbalance, there exists an opportunity for corruption, or at the very least, abuse.
The other part I don't understand about this program is the necessity to even collect the biometrics in the first place. At many airports currently, some airlines have special security lines set aside for their frequent flyers anyway. All you have to do is show your frequent flyer card and your boarding pass and voila! you're in the short line. No, it doesn't guarantee that you don't get randomly picked for secondary screening, but to be honest, I've only ever been randomly picked for that two or three times since 2001, and it wasn't that big a deal. So what's up with this new program?
As far as I can tell, you're getting almost nothing in return for giving up a lot of privacy. Basically, what I'm saying is, if you want to talk about frequent flyer privileges, you should be able to get those with your frequent flyer card and nothing more. This is the way it is at some airports already. This is the way it should stay. Collecting this information is a totally unnecessary step toward the 1984 police state that our "freedom" is supposed to free us from.
This brings me to the next level of the argument, which is laid out in this Wired article about John Gilmore. John is pretty much just a regular guy who happened to make a ton of money by being there when Sun was taking off in the 80's. Today, he's in the news because he doesn't think Americans should have to present their papers to travel within their own country. Remember when the Soviets were doing this during the Cold War and our politicians were all up in arms about how repressive that society was? Well, welcome to the Union of American Socialist States, my friend. Because making you present ID to get on a flight is right outta that era.
I personally submit to this invasion because I am forced to make the unfortunate choice between freedom and friendship/family/work. It shouldn't be this way, but if I choose not to submit to this, then I can't fly to play with friends, or fly to a business meeting, or fly to visit my family in far away places. So I have to thank John Gilmore for making the sacrifices for freedom that I choose not to. As much as the soldiers who sacrifice for our freedom in the jungles, hedges, and deserts of foreign lands, John Gilmore and people like him make sacrifices for our freedom.
We need to celebrate these heroes as much as the firefighters, police officers, and soldiers we celebrate, because each of them keeps our society's liberties safe in their own way.