Policy-Discussion

["Ian G (Audit)" <iang AT cacert.org>]

On 22/2/09 14:13, Duane at e164 dot org wrote:
> Ian G (Audit) wrote:
>
> > 911 seems to have set the scene for changing that and bringing the USA
> > into line with other "rich island states" like Britain and Australia,
> > but it is surprising how long it took to happen.
>
> The funny thing is Australia is going the other way, there has been
> agreements put in place between Australia and New Zealand to classify
> flights between the 2 countries as domestic, so you would be able to
> travel back and forth with just a drivers license. The airlines claim
> this will make tickets up to AUD$300 cheaper.


Yes, borders are stupidly expensive.  This A-NZ border argument goes 
back a few decades, though.  Back in the 1980s, I recall, Australia 
unilaterally imposed the need for passports for New Zealanders.  The 
argument at the time was drugs, the aussies claimed the kiwis were too 
lax at their borders, so the game was to fly from Asia to NZ with the 
drugs, then transit to Australia ... I didn't pay any attention so I 
don't know what the real motivation for it is.

The real motivation for identity cards in air travel, or, the biggest 
driver, is simply commercial.  Once a ticket is sold to a person, the 
airline loses money if that person then passes on the ticket to someone 
else.  The airlines wanted identity checks in America since forever to 
kill the grey market, but were not about to justify it until 9/11 came 
along.  There was a fairly persistent grey market in airline tickets and 
if you do the business numbers you can map out how much you lose, as an 
airline, to those uncontrolled sales.  If you think about say Europe, 
and a ticket from Madrid to Berlin, which you can't take because you are 
sick, what's the chance you can sell it on eBay for half the price? 
Pretty good, really.

However, it also comes at a cost, because although the airlines get more 
money without the inconvenience of grey sales, apparently, it isn't a 
static equation.  Imposing these tricks and costs on the customers cause 
the customers to respond in other ways.  So after 9/11, the airlines saw 
significant drop off in traffic in the American market, which put them 
all into danger of bankrupcy.  In Europe, the airlines have to compete 
with the trains, which do allow flexible ticketing.  In both big 
domestic markets they have to compete with cars.



What's all that to do with CAcert?  Well, never believe anything that 
the players in another market say about Identity.  It is very rare for 
any organisation to actually reveal a real story in this area.  You need 
to investigate it fairly deeply to figure out what is really going on.

Pop quiz:  what does CAcert say about Identity?

iang

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