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Comment by tobylane | Hacker News Reader

Does that make it zip code lottery for your right to drive or fly?

It just means that because this is a federal requirement that needs to be implemented by the states, we're going to see 50 different implementations. Some will work better than others.

My state doesn't require real id and I see no reason the get the realid compliant id my state offers. I have a passport, passport card, and global entry which are all federaly issued and "real" ids.

Why is it so hard to just travel with a passport or passport card?

Because only 42% of Americans have a passport and that number is by far a record high.

Yeah not really a surprise. Most of the surveys I've read show something like 10-12% of people have never left their state, and 40% or more of Americans have never left the US.

HN is overwhelmingly technical, educated, well-off, and travels a lot -- most of the US (and other places, for that matter) aren't.

Arguably your right to drive does not exist (it's a privilege to operate a motor vehicle.)

Your right to cross state lines and travel freely (by common carrier flight) is stronger than a purported right to drive.

Your right to cross state lines and travel freely does not include any right to a particular mode of transportation.

You would pretty much have to argue that interstate travel is impracticable without airplanes and that trains/buses/your feet don't suffice.

The fact that trains/buses/your feet doesn't suffice has already been covered in Gilmore v. Gonzales, among other similar points in the same area.

From the Wikipedia entry:

> there was no constitutional violation because air passengers could still travel without identification if they instead underwent the more stringent "secondary screening" search

I wasn't aware that I could decline to show ID at an airport security checkpoint in favor of undergoing a secondary screening. Does this actually work in practice?

(Also, I wonder how it squares with automated facial recognition and similar biometric technology?)

Yeah, I've done it. You just get your bags searched a little harder as if you had been "randomly selected for additional screening".

Yes it works. If you lose your ID or someone steals your wallet on a trip and you can still take the airplane back home before getting a new one.

So theoretically if I show up at the airport and claim that I lost my license but had proof that I purchased the tickets, what would happen? Would they just search me in more detail than they already do?

Practically it depends on who you are.

As a nerdy white programmer, I got a just a look through my luggage and a swab down for explosives.

I've heard of people getting questioned for an hour though in addition to my experience. These were all people of color.

From the article:

> 1. The TSA admits that people can and do fly without ID.

> Prior to the COVID-19 National Emergency, TSA encountered over 2.5 million passengers a day and, on average, 600 instances of passengers without acceptable ID. These individuals are able to verify their identity via telephone through our National Transportation Vetting Center (NTVC).

Exactly, you are free to walk between states.

Just keep yourself clean looking. Some towns don’t like vagrants.

Why is it not considered a privilege to occupy space in a flight in state-controlled airspace? At what point does it become a de facto travel ban, e.g. one can of course travel, so long as they are walking, and of course not on private or government-owned land.

Not really.

1. You don't need a REAL ID to drive.

2. State IDs aren't the only way to get a REAL ID. All federally issued IDs are already REAL ID compliant.

Which is odd to say the least, because the documentation for a US passport (as of a couple years ago) was less stringent than that required by the REAL ID act.

It’s pretty much the same in terms what the feds want. Some states layer on their own requirements for their own policy reasons.

Places like South Dakota do things to enable them to make a few bucks from vehicle registration for out of state people.

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