Monday, May 24, 2004
Your papers, please
In Boston, we'll be taking the Green Line from our hotel to Fenway Park for the game. Therefore, this item is of particular interest: they are soon going to start random ID checks of transit passengers in Boston.
If this is still going on in August, as much as I'd love to protest against it, I think becoming a test case would ruin the rest of the trip. So I'll grudgingly present my ID if necessary, although the real problem may be convincing the officer that the digital camera I'm carrying is for the purpose of taking pictures in and around Fenway Park, since some transit authorities are being a little touchy about photography of their property.
thatbob: Too bad the MBTA will be checking the *identity* of people riding their trains, instead of the *bomb-carrying status* of people riding their trains. I guess they just want to make sure that, in case of a bombing, all of the corpses can be identified?
Anyway, if I were you two, I wouldn't set foot in an unfamiliar train. Very, very dangerous things, trains. Very dangerous.
Historically unsound.
Levi: Now, does Jim have high enough celebrity status among railfans that the ID check is going to hold us up because of the ensuing autographs, or is he just objecting on grounds of privacy, civil liberties, and silliness?
Jim: I'm certainly no Mike Schafer!
If this is still going on in August, as much as I'd love to protest against it, I think becoming a test case would ruin the rest of the trip. So I'll grudgingly present my ID if necessary, although the real problem may be convincing the officer that the digital camera I'm carrying is for the purpose of taking pictures in and around Fenway Park, since some transit authorities are being a little touchy about photography of their property.
Original comments...
thatbob: Too bad the MBTA will be checking the *identity* of people riding their trains, instead of the *bomb-carrying status* of people riding their trains. I guess they just want to make sure that, in case of a bombing, all of the corpses can be identified?
Anyway, if I were you two, I wouldn't set foot in an unfamiliar train. Very, very dangerous things, trains. Very dangerous.
Historically unsound.
Levi: Now, does Jim have high enough celebrity status among railfans that the ID check is going to hold us up because of the ensuing autographs, or is he just objecting on grounds of privacy, civil liberties, and silliness?
Jim: I'm certainly no Mike Schafer!
Labels: boston, brpa, planning, road trip, security theater
