From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Sat, 21 Oct 95 22:04:47 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: airport security
Message-ID: <acaf1d35530210046717@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 2:05 AM 10/22/95, Alan Horowitz wrote:
>WHy should airplane crashes be more of a cause for disseminating the
>Surveillance State than Greyhound Bus crashes?
>
>I'd be more sympathetic to arguments about an airline's right to write
>it's contracts as it pleases. Though they are Common Carriers; they can't
>just offer Contracts of Adhesion at will.

No crypto relevance--my apologies.

I am skeptical that the "all passengers must have picture IDs" has much to
do with identifying corpses after crashes.

The recent push is certainly associated with the various terrorist threats
and incidents. The FAA can push for it, and the airlines have little to say
about it.

However, I read--probably in the WSJ--that the airlines see this as a
chance to regain control of "ticket abuse." Corporations often have bought
up discount tickets without knowing who willl be travelling and on what
dates. This allows them to have a pool of tickets and saves them a bunch of
money.

Reports are that many people showed up at boarding gates with a different
name than what the ticket said, and had to pay extra to get a current
ticket (no advance purchase, of course).

I'm not sure what the compelling lessons are, except that the
"Identification Required State" is getting closer every day.

--Tim May

Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
Corralitos, CA              | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839      | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."