111–120 of 144 posts
"We have literally reached a point where the only way to travel long distances anonymously is to use a horse." Sure about that? Brief Googling on regulations around moving horses between states indicates that "under ... federal regulations, horses moving interstate must be identified and accompanied by an Interstate Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (ICVI)."
There's always personal BigDog robots...
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I cannot remember the last time i showed my ID to anyone when traveling/flying in Europe.
I had to show ID (Passport) to both take a train from Germany to Paris, and to fly from Germany to Rome. And again while on the train each direction. I also had to show my passport / ID at each hotel I stayed at in Paris and Rome.
For the flight: Usually you either check in with your ID/passport in one way or another. That's true, I guess. As far as I'm aware at least, there's no way around it. They don't "check" you, but you prove that you booked your flight by presenting the ID. Bah.
For the hotels: That's the real issue. Ignore the rest. Most countries here seem to require that you give up your identity if you check into a hotel. The ID isn't always required - actually that's rare for me so far - but you're supposed to give up your name, private address and contact information. For .. random idiotic reasons I assume.
It's not the hotels that care here, though. Can't blame them.
This makes me wonder: do you need ID to take a train within the Schengen area? I'd imagine not.
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I had to show ID (Passport) to both take a train from Germany to Paris, and to fly from Germany to Rome. And again while on the train each direction. I also had to show my passport / ID at each hotel I stayed at in Paris and Rome.
For the train: Probably you booked an online ticket (think QR code)? Often that says "Only valid with a government ID". Why? Hell, who knows. Crappy company.. For the flight: Usually you either check in with your ID/passport in one way or another. That's true, I guess. As far as I'm aware at least, there's no way around it. They don't "check" you, but you prove that you booked your flight by presenting the ID. Bah. F…
Online checkin? Did multiple flights with Lufthansa, never had to show ID. Maybe depends on the airline
I think you can still travel long distances anonymously using a bicycle. Stephen King treats bikes as the canonical post-apocalyptic transit method — roads are too crowded with abandoned cars for automobile travel to be effective, and motorcycle travel is very dangerous (there is no ambulance if you have a high-speed accident). But you can do a hundred miles in a day on a bike. That's not bad. I've also never been as…
A reasonable thing for the author to point out would have been that this has become yet another seldom-enforced law/regulation. Such policies are bad because they allow for selective and abusive enforcement, erode respect for the rule of law as an institution, provide none of the purported security benefits for which the policy was made in the first place, and create confusion as to what laws and regulations actually exist.
As a separate thought exercise, consider the otherwise law-abiding individual who has constructed an identity and identification indistinguishable from a real one, but different from his own. Since there is no means of validating a piece of identification anyway, and in the circumstances described herein no means of determining from an individual's name whether he is to be prohibited from boarding, what's the point anyway? There are a lot of similar rabbit holes here; it's really best not to think about it, because (a) nothing you or anyone does is ever going to change it for the better, and (b) you're never going to discover any kind of logic to any of it. Make yourself a phony-but-real ID if you want, or don't. Travel, or don't. But don't try to reason about or change government policy; it's a waste of mental energy.
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I cannot remember the last time i showed my ID to anyone when traveling/flying in Europe.
It is not necessary inside Schengen, but not all EU countries are part of the area - when traveling to UK or Ireland, you definitely need to show your ID.
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In my country everyone has a right to an ID card and not even the police can confiscate them. I agree that withholding an essential ID document is evil.
But, do you see that checking even your ID means the police can deny travel based on who you are? The 'travel papers' are then in the government computer. No, its essential you do not even present ID to travel, for personal freedom to be ensured.
I don't mean to say "if you did nothing wrong you have nothing to fear". It's more like "if you weren't literally convicted of a crime, don't worry".
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A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step ...
And then you slide down the slippery slope?
[1]: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Forbidden...
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And my point is that travel papers aren't just something you need to travel with. It's a permission for specific travel. You can argue that requiring an ID for traveling on a plane is too restrictive, but it's not travel papers.
Not trying to argue here, just trying to understand you. At the point where ID is required, it becomes de facto permission for that specific travel, no? Without ID, that travel is denied. (Or at least, that's the author's point.)
Also, it only becomes any kind of restriction if there is any restriction on the issuing of ID (either practical, economical or legal).
As always, the details are more important than the big picture.
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