One way tickets cost as much as round trip tickets. So people would buy a round trip ticket then sell the return ticket. This was standard practice And they never used to ask for picture ID when you flew.
The requirement for picture ID was instituted on the behalf of airlines seeking to end the practice. It wasn't about security. It was about money.
Incidentally there is no actual law requiring picture ID. Well, the FAA says that it exists, but won't tell anyone what it is. (I wish I was making this up.) This was the subject of a lawsuit that was lost in the 9th circuit and not heard by the Supreme Court. See http://www.papersplease.org/gilmore/index.html for more.
Isn't there a requirement that the laws be published in the Federal Journal or some such official journal that records what the laws are and are not? This is pretty much a standard practice in common law derived legislatures.
Are you sure their claiming it's a law and not a regulation?
You can pass security and fly without a picture ID (You know this if you have ever forgotten to bring your ID to the airport). They just make you do a couple other things to identify yourself.
I recently forgot my driver's license, and I showed them my student ID (which did have my picture on it), and a couple of credit cards and I didn't even go through extra security. The TSA website makes it clear that you can get through security without a government-issued photo id (although they do discourage it).
I flew American Airlines coast-to-coast after 9/11 holding a boarding pass with the name "Mary Cummings" on it. I was checked twice (at security and at the gate) that my driver's license matched the boarding pass. During the flight I alerted the flight attendant who found the lady who apparently had boarded as me without difficulty.
I lost my ID on Friday right after I got off the plane (or still on the plane) and now I have to get back to California today. After extensive research, I found out you can get through TSA without a proper ID in some cases. The TSA website says they will try to verify your ID in other ways and issue enhanced interrogation, and that you should have two other forms of ID (listed here: http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/customer/editorial_1029.shtm#1 ) I had my mom overnight me my birth certificate, and I'm gonna use my credit card (and I have two school IDs as well) so hopefully I don't TSA raped too hard on the way in.
They can easily verify your identity using official ID, even if you don't have it with you. I was chosen for screening when I entered the country after a trip to Mexico, at a border checkpoint in or near Brownsville, and the Border Patrol agent pulled my driver's license info up on his computer. He asked for my driver's license, he typed in the number, and all of the information popped right up on his screen, including the photo.
Assuming you have a driver's license and the TSA has access to the same technology the Border Patrol does, name and address and a five-second search ought to be sufficient. Any extra inconvenience or unpleasantness they inflict on you is probably only intended to make sure you don't make a habit of forgetting your ID.
Around the start of last year's summer I lost my driver's license in my mom's car after she dropped me off at the airport. (I foolishly took it out of my wallet before hand so it fell out of my pocket.) Anyway, they let me through with just my college ID which is pretty low-quality-looking to boot. They did put a sticker on my bag that supposedly marks it for enhanced scanning (they never rifled through it though) and they lightly patted me down.
I've flown a few times since 9/11 without ID. In the smaller airport the TSA seem to not really care, basically asked me "really? no id? ok." The other times a credit card was good enough for them.
Interesting about the downplaying of the ID authentication. I suddenly realized what would make me happier with this whole security setup; one of these two things:
1. I would consent to their searches if I did not have to identify myself (and they made no attempt to identify me). This seems practical, as Schneier suggests, because your identity doesn't really matter as long as you've been screened.
2. They adopt rigorous authentication procedures and authorize me to pass without undressing, scanning, swiping, etc. My hunch is that this wouldn't be too effective a preventive tactic, but what do I know...
I'm much more into (1), personally, but I'll take anything that makes travel less cumbersome.
I think (1) is already somewhat true, unless they changed a rule recently. I flew in 2006 out of Boston Logan with a friend who had forgotten all of his identification (save his boarding pass and maybe a college ID.) You can bet they frisked him and patted him down to high heck, but he was still allowed on his flight.
Same report by a friend who flew with an expired driver's license (unrealized until he got to the ID check). They did pull him aside for further questioning and more thorough screening, but he was ultimately allowed to fly.
he fact that the agent groping my genitals or looking at my x-ray doesn't know my name doesn't make me feel any better.
FWIW I took a short trip recently and opted for groping over porno-scan at both airports. No one touched my junk (though they came close), perhaps because when they asked if there were any parts of my body that were sensitive I said, "Yes, my nuts."
I've used my school ID to board planes on multiple occasions. It's easier than pulling out a passport, and no one seems to really care. Actually, the only time I even need to show ID at all is at the last step where I board the plane... you can pick up a boarding pass by just answering some questions... and in my experience, the TSA only really looks at your boarding pass.
I've also found that their security systems have problems with edge-detection. I inadvertently brought a razor-sharp piece of metal in my carry-on with me from Canada to the US once, and only realized it when I was unpacking. The article is correct: mistakes happen all the time, but it's not a security concern I'd worry about.
I'd more complain about the multiple times I get stopped by customs. US Customs held me at DC for 3 hours because I had too many types of US stamps on my passport. After waiting 3 hours and saying "I was a student", they let me go.
> in my experience, the TSA only really looks at your boarding pass
I flew out of Boston Logan on Sunday. The TSA (?) guy just before X-Ray machine and free groping took my passport and boarding pass, shining a little black light Maglite at my first name on the boarding pass and passport, put a check mark next to my first name on the boarding pass, and then proceeded to do the same for my last name. Black light was also shined on the flight number and a couple of other things, and each was check marked. He then turned to the next blank page in my passport and had a good look at that with his black light.
Probably took less than 30 seconds, but he was very thorough in making sure my ID matched my boarding pass and neither had been tampered with.
Wait, what? At every airport I've flown out of in the US (SFO, SJC, LAX, BWI, IAD, DCA, LAS, BOS, JFK, STL, AUS) just to name a few) in the past few years, the TSA has looked at both my ID and boarding pass before letting me through security screening. And I haven't had to show ID at the gate since right after 9/11.
The one time I lost my ID (LAS in 2007 or 2008), I was allowed through security, but only after extra screening.
No they don't have a problem with edge detection, it's just how sensitive they want to make the metal detectors/xrays. They can beep at the little rivets in your jeans if they wanted to. I brought safety razor blades with me in a SE asia trip and the only place that found them/cared about them was China.
If we presume that the TSA wants to maximize actual passenger safety given certain budgetary and passenger annoyance constraints, most of its policies and procedures make little sense. When we add in the goal of making the public perceive that it is increasing safety levels and the resulting "security theater" tactics, they start to appear more rational. Does the general public believe that terrorists can't acquire fake ids and print out boarding passes to match? I suspect the majority of Americans don't think they are more secure because of id checking. So, why does the TSA do it? Perhaps the airlines have requested it as a way of circumventing ticket sharing, exchanges, etc.? Have they enlisted the government as the enforcer of their price discrimination model? When things don't make sense, I always presume there are some facts/circumstances of which I am unaware.
> Perhaps the airlines have requested it as a way of circumventing ticket sharing, exchanges, etc.? Have they enlisted the government as the enforcer of their price discrimination model?
I think you nailed it. Obviously not all of the TSA's actions can be explained this way, but the insistence on ID that matches the boarding pass is so beneficial to the airlines that it's hard to ignore the possibility of 'regulatory capture'.
In India, if you look like an Indian, you can pay $20 and get a passport with obviously-faked documents. You can get a driver's license for $5 without ever driving anything.
If you are a woman, it's the simplest thing to take a small-sinister-object past airport security. Buy a large book, cut a small-sinister-object-shaped hole, put the thing inside and pretend to read the book while waiting for security checks. You are asked to place the book on the table while they check you. They don't look into the stuff you put on the table, unless it's a wallet.
Ha! Remarkable because I know Seun. He's not dangerous, but he does have a thick Nigerian accent.
I can't help but wonder if his accent helped him get through security and on the plane. It's hard to catch someone in a lie when you're struggling to understand what he's saying.
IDs are not that hard to fake really, once you know how to take them apart without destroying them. What's always amazed me more, though, is how your address is never actually physically verified. Ever.
I can order a copy of my drivers license and change the address to "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC" and they'll ship it to me quick as can be. If you happen to find somebody who looks a lot like you (or you can modify your face to look like them) you can just get their social or drivers license # and order a copy to a different mailing address. The original owner is never notified.
If you want to just make yourself a brand new ID under someone else's identity you can get a new driver's license under someone else's name. Bring two forms of ID (a birth certificate which you can order with a SSN or a faked certificate of US citizenship along with a faked insurance card), a faked telephone or utility bill, and a proof of social security number (a faked payroll statement and a faked insurance or IRS statement with name and SSN). Then make an appointment at the DMV and get a fully valid new government ID with your picture and someone else's name.
That's something a terrorist could do without much trouble once they had someone to target. You don't even need Photoshop to fake those documents; just a Kinkos, MS Word, Paint and some scissors. Just get the guy's name and SSN (which thanks to LulzSec there are plenty of leaked to the internets) and go to town. Should take about a week, maybe two if the fake birth certificate takes a while to ship. You can also do without the birth certificate if you just order a copy of the person's drivers license.
So yeah. The fact that the TSA doesn't check your ID past glancing at it and putting a mark on your ticket isn't that scary to me, since anyone who really wants to can get a valid ID which will pass all checks in a couple weeks.
What state are you talking about? AFAIK when you say
>I can order a copy of my drivers license and change the address to "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC" and they'll ship it to me quick as can be.
some states (e.g. New Jersey) mark the new license as a duplicate copy, which causes increased scrutiny by police officers and other ID checkers. And most states do send something to the old address, if only a simple notice stating the change of address.
Likewise, USPS sends a notice to both addresses if you activate their mail forwarding service, so you can't forward somebody's mail to your address and reorder their license. (Unless they are on vacation...) All of that is mail fraud which is a federal offense and probably a felony.
That all gets you a license with somebody else's picture, so you need to be a very close match with them to be able to use it--LulzSec isn't dumping pictures of their targets yet, so that means for a lot of facebooking.
As for a brand new ID, I wouldn't say it's impossible to jump through all the hoops you have described in para 3, but you'd have to pick somebody that does not already have an ID in the state you are getting a license from, and somebody that you are sure will not be contactable as a result of all your shenanigans (i.e. missing without a death certificate), or your fake license is bound to be useful for only a short period until the IRS and credit agencies catch up with the real person and that victim files a report of identity theft, freezing/suspending it. The next time you get pulled over with that license, it's lights out. Additionally, you can't just walk out the door of a DMV with a new license, you have to wait for it to be shipped a real address and if your forgeries are detected before then, police may be waiting to see who picks it up. That risk probably serves as a sufficient deterrent, no?
Florida and D.C. I believe there is some tiny print indicating a dup, and nobody ever looks at it in the real world.
Neither send notice after changing the address on the license. There's no USPS address change required here, so no notification.
Honestly, it's not hard to find somebody with a beard with kinda-close skin color, and go to a party store and buy some makeup. Again we're talking about somebody who just wants a quick fake and not, say, a terrorist or drug dealer who can pay for a really good counterfit.
Why would they not already have an ID? You just get a reissue, or yes, go to the state next door and get a replacement (which may void out the other state's ID, but maybe you don't care if they find out after? I dunno).
As long as you don't use the stolen identity for anything but travel I don't see how anybody would find out.
Also, i'm preeeeeety sure they do make new IDs at the DMV so you don't have to wait for it to be mailed. I think I got one handed to me, but that was a while back. Anyway, just specify a different mailing address for them to mail it to ("i'm moving and i don't live there yet"). edit And seeing as Arizona will hand you one as below commenter says, i'm 85% sure Florida does too.
Every 3.8 seconds someone has his or her identity stolen. This indicates to me that there is not enough deterrent. Perhaps there are even easier ways than what I outlined but I am not a criminal so I have no idea.
In BC Canada, when you change your address they just ship you a dot matrix printed version of the new address with a small sticky bit on the back to stick on the back of your licence. I don't think changing it to something outside of BC will work.
I lost my wallet last time I flew out to the Bay Area, and I was able to fly back with just my ticket -- you just have to go through an extra security check where they pat you down and go through your carry on.
