Give us your papers! All of your papers!
The federal government is at it again. This time it's the TSA who's going after even more personal information. USA Today has this story Via Yahoo! That sums up all of the new information that they are going to be requesting. It includes:
"in-depth security background checks" that may involve "using commercial data" for people applying to the Registered Traveler program that starts in June. The checks will help verify people's identities to prove they have no ties to terrorism.
Now this is not to say that this will apply to everyone. As the story goes on:
The program will create reserved lanes for people who pass the background check and pay an annual fee, expected to be $80 to $100. Security requirements such as removing jackets and shoes will be lifted as approved passengers go through metal detectors.
So, TSA'll ask you to pay up to 100 bucks for the honor of having all of your financial records scrutinized and then kept on file. all of that just so that you can avoid having to stand in line with the rabble.
Seems fair to me.
The terrorists have won. We are truly paranoid.
posted by thorrad @ 9:15 AM
1 Comments:
I went to my father's aunt's (by marriage) memorial service in BC a couple weeks ago (MLK, Jr. Day saved me!), and we entered the land to the north with ease. "How many? What is the purpose of your visit? Any fruits, veggies, or dangerous balloon animals?" blah blah blah.
The return trip, with my father (Canadian for the first 18 years of his life) still driving, was much more fun. We went through the Blaine crossing rather than the truck bypass (the latter is ALWAYS a better choice, but my parents and I collectively missed the signs). The U.S. was a little more demanding as my father offered up his passport, my mom's passport, and my *gasp* California Driver's License (with encoded magstrip).
Did I not have, asked the rather stern border guard, my passport ($95, asshole! I don't make enough money to bother with that for a trip I booked five days before!) or my birth certificate (yeah, because EVERYONE carries that document around!). He ran my ID.
He had no problem with my parents. They were clearly who they claimed to be and no threat to national security. That they were presenting their mid-30s son, who looks kind like their offspring and who shares their last name, was, it seemed, almost beyond comprehension, but only because of a lack of documentation.
Yeah! Now we're cookin' with gas . . . in the age of the microwave.
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