Why John Gilmore won't show his ID at airports

Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder John Gilmore refuses to show ID to get on an airplane (or a train, and he doesn't drive either -- he doesn't travel far, apparently), and is taking this issue to the courts. Cory Doctorow (himself an EFF employee) at BoingBoing gushes:

Pittsburgh's Post-Gazette has an amazing, balanced, in-depth profile on John Gilmore, the guy who Sun hired to write their first code, the guy who co-founded EFF, the guy who won't show ID to get on an airplane:

From the Post-Gazette article:

John Gilmore's splendid isolation began July 4, 2002, when, with defiance aforethought, he strolled to the Southwest Airlines counter at Oakland Airport and presented his ticket.

The gate agent asked for his ID.

Gilmore asked her why.

It is the law, she said.

Gilmore asked to see the law.

Nobody could produce a copy. To date, nobody has. The regulation that mandates ID at airports is "Sensitive Security Information." The law, as it turns out, is unavailable for inspection.

What started out as a weekend trip to Washington became a crawl through the courts in search of an answer to Gilmore's question: Why?

In post 9/11 America, asking "Why?" when someone from an airline asks for identification can start some interesting arguments.

I think he has a strong point about secrecy and the law.  Homeland Security should have to produce the text of the law or at least a more specific explanation.  This legal "rabbit hole" needs to be fixed, but Gilmore's true mission is clearly broader.  He says:

"I will show a passport to travel internationally. I'm not willing to show a passport to travel in my own country," Gilmore said. "I used to laugh at countries that had internal passports. And it's happened here and people don't even seem to know about it."

He apparently forgets that this is a daily reality for the millions of immigrants in this country (having to produce their passport on request).  So it's not exactly unheard of.  Airlines presumably also use identification simply to verify that the person boarding the plane is the one who bought the ticket.

Link: Grounded: Millionaire John Gilmore stays close to home while making a point about privacy via Boing Boing: Why John Gilmore won't show his ID at airports.