No ID, No Freedoms?

A writer/blogger details an event that led to his arrest outside a Circuit City in Ohio for refusing to show a rather rude employee his receipt and for refusing to show a policeman an ID. The post was featured here at Boing Boing and both the post and the many comments which follow it are fascinating reads and raise many questions. (Yes, Boing Boing has updated and is allowing comments on posts.) The story has been also featured on Digg, Fark and other sites also with much debate.

In the blogger's version of events his rights and liberties were trashed by business and government alike - if the events follow his account. He was asked to show a receipt on the way out of the store and refused and continued on to his car. When store manager Joe stood so the car door could not be closed, here's what was said:

"Me: “Is there a problem?”

Joe: “I need to examine your bag and receipt before letting you leave this parking lot.”

Me: “I paid for the contents in this bag. Are you accusing me of stealing?”

Joe: “I’m not accusing you of anything, but I’m allowed by law to look through your bag when you leave.”

Me: “Which law states that? Name the law that gives you the right to examine my bag when I leave a Circuit City.”

Then, says, the blogger:

"I twice asked Joe to back away from the car so that I could close the door. Joe refused. On three occasions I tried to pull the door closed but Joe pushed back on the door with his hip and hands. I then gave Joe three options:

“Accuse me of shoplifting and call the police. I will gladly wait for them to arrive.”
“Back away from the car so that I can close the door and drive away.”
“If you refuse to let me leave I will be forced to call the police.”

However, after he did call the police, the officer then challenged him and demanded to see his driver's license - even though he was not driving a vehicle and was instead standing on the sidewalk. When he refused, he was arrested, even though the store officials examined his belongings and admitted he had a receipt for all purchases.

Some will say the blogger, Michael Righi, invited trouble for refusing to comply with the store employee. And more trouble was invited by not showing the policeman an ID. The comments on Boing Boing alone bring up central and related issues that are worthy of debate.

And as I said, since I think Righi is telling the truth, I also agree his freedoms were needlessly challenged and curtailed. The events also highlight the problematic issue that corporations, like Circuit City, are identified as having the same rights as an individual. That fact most often means the rights of the corporation will trump the honest-to-God human's rights every time.

And as we continue on the current legal path where National IDs, under provisions of the Real ID Act, are going to be mandatory each of us will likely be faced with demands that we provide papers to engage in a host of routine activities.

Such requirements are more than lunacy. It's a perversion of our basic freedoms to be required to have papers to simply exist. Righi was not engaged in some unique activity which requires a license - such as fishing or hunting or operating a business.

More and more we have become a society where each of us is perceived as guilty, each of us is a criminal-in-waiting, each of us is forced to agree our rights are subservient to that of our own government and to the needs of business. Dismissing this story and it's implications is perilous for all.

(image from the Hartford Courant, Oct. 30, 2001)

UPDATE (9/5/07): R. Neal at KnoxViews featured this post and thoughtfully added in the comments the law in TN regarding what a merchant has legal rights to do if they think a person might have taken something without paying.

Also worth noting is that Righi was charged with obstructing a police officer, even though Righi is the one who called the police.

Glad to see this story is getting some discussion and thoughtful review in numerous blogs. The willingness to abandon individual rights is a repulsive trend which endangers us all.

Real ID Act Tucked Inside Immigration Bill

UPDATE: The Senate has killed the immigration bill for this session.
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Got a new national law, which states have been voting to not enforce, and looking for a way to jam that proposed law down everyone's throats?

Hide it in the controversial Immigration Reform Bill under debate now in the Senate.(See UPDATE above)

I've written often before on how this bill is bad for America. It was originally hidden in a bill providing relief for victims of the tsunami in Southeast Asia a few years ago.

This new ID will be mandatory for every American - without one, you could not open a bank account, buy an airline ticket, collect Social Security benefits (never mind that you have a SS ID card and number), you could not enter any federal facility, and you would not be able to operate a vehicle (never mind that current Drivers License you own.) In addition, security experts have stated the lack of wisdom in creating a single database which would contain so much information which identity thieves require to steal info about you. It would be a one-stop shopping center for identity thieves.

Tennessee's legislature voted to repeal the act, and that it won't enforce it unless the billions in costs related to creating the ID are paid for with Federal funds. 15 states have done the same, 10 more have voted to approve it in one section of their legislature and 6 more states have anti-Real ID legislation pending.

In defending the plan, The National Review claims:

"... states will have to secure their issuance processes, utilize tamper-resistant materials and production methods, and ensure that only legal U.S. residents receive state-identification documents for federal purposes" .....

Yo, there National Review --- isn't that the normal function NOW for state documentation? What magic wand will be waved over the Real ID program so that it works?

The current Immigration Reform Bill now being considered has an amendment to remove the ID Act from that bill, though it does not halt the program from being mandatory by 2013. This post via KnoxViews has links for you to notify your Senator to stop the Real ID in the Immigration Bill.

The ID plan turns the Dept. of Motor Vehicles into agents for Immigration, for Homeland Security and what if a state you travel to does not recognize your state's official ID? We could just inject every American citizen or legal immigrant with a "patriot-certified" radio-frequency chip to insure their identity, and just as quickly, forgeries for that will appear.