You won't need ID to fly under Real-ID

Edward Hasbrouck has pointed out that under final Real-ID rules, you won't be required to show ID to fly. He also carefully differentiates between Real-ID and Secure Flight. This is an important article for anyone interested in this issue:

There's been a lot of confusion in the last few weeks as to (1) whether the USA
Federal "Real-ID Act" will change the requirements for personal identification
documents for airline passengers in the USA, and (2) if and when the Real-ID Act
is fully implemented, will it be impossible to fly without showing a
government-issued "Real-ID" document?
Now that the final rules for implementation of the Real-ID Act have been published, those questions can be answered simply and definitively: No, and no.
No publicly-disclosed USA Federal law or regulation currently requires domestic USA airline passengers to present any sort of evidence of their identity. If you have a valid ticket and comply with their general rules, airlines are required by Federal law to transport you, regardless of whether you have any identification papers (government-issued, "Real-ID" compliant, or otherwise). The Real-ID Act and its rules will not change any of this. You will still have a right to fly without ID, even under the Real-ID rules newly announced by the USA Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
There are other pending rules which, if they are allowed to go into effect, will require both government-issued papers and permission for international travel to and from the USA, beginning this month. And the proposed Secure Flight scheme
would extend those papers-and-permission requirements to domestic air travel
within the USA. Those are significant, and call for immediate litigation and
ongoing refusal to comply with illegal orders. But those are all separate from
the Real-ID Act.
Much of the confusion about the Real-ID Act and air travel
has come from misunderstandings of the current rules, and from imprecise
reporting about the proposed Real-ID Act regulations.

More...

You only need to provide your first initial and last name to fly

Right in with the recent news that the TSA wants to collect full names, birthdays and genders as part of secure flight is the indication that currently you only need to provide your first initial and last name.
Does this mean that the airline only passes on your first initial and last name to the TSA, or do they pass along your full name if you give it to them?
Either way, I assume this means that you are free to provide the airline with only your first initial and last name.
I have always given my full name to the airline, but that meant that when the TSA recorded my boarding pass information as I chose to fly without ID, they got to record my full name because it was on my boarding pass. Although I have an uncommon last name, I would really prefer to only give my first initial and last name, and leave off the chance of the TSA keeping records that identify me more fully. Not for any good reason, just that it freaks me out that the federal government is keeping records of my movements.
Even if the rule does go into effect, providing this additional information would be optional.

How to comment on Secure Flight

Secure flight is the plan whereby the TSA would approve each individual traveller for airplane travel, rather than the current system where the airlines check travellers against a watch list and no-fly list.

Written comments for secure flight must be received by November 21, 2007. Please leave a comment even if you don't think it will help. By my count there are only 291 comments as of today. There should be thousands...
Here's how to leave a comment.
1. Go to http://www.regulations.gov/
2. Scroll down to "Optional Step 4" in the search box. Select category "Docket ID" from the dropdown menu. Paste "TSA-2007-28572" into the adjacent text box. Leave everything else as is. Press submit.
3. To leave a comment, click on the callout image:. It is on the right hand side under "Comments
Add/Due By". To view other people's comments, click on the link under "Docket ID".

Here's the TSA's information about secure flight.
What is so bad about secure flight?
1. It violates your privacy. The government would be collecting and storing large quantities of information about you.
2. It violates your explicit rights to freedom of assembly because it requires prior permission for you to travel. It also interferes with your implicit right to movement.
3. It places an undue economic burden on airlines and would increase passenger delays.

A good overview of problems with secure flight is available here and here.

Secure Flight update

YOU MAY LOSE THE RIGHT TO TRAVEL ON AIRPLANES WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY. Additional information about Secure Flight.

US demands air passengers ask its permission to fly | The Register: Under new rules proposed by the Transport Security Administration (TSA) , all airline passengers would need advance permission before flying into, through, or over the United States regardless of citizenship or the airline's national origin.
...
The new rules mean this information must be submitted 72 hours before departure. Only those given clearance will get a boarding pass. The TSA estimates that 90 to 93 per cent of all travel reservations are final by then.

The proposed rules require the following information for each passenger: full name, sex, date of birth, and redress number (assigned to passengers who use the Travel Redress Inquiry Program because they have been mistakenly placed on the no-fly list), and known traveller number (once there is a programme in place for registering known travellers whose backgrounds have been checked). Non-travellers entering secure areas, such as parents escorting children, will also need clearance.

The TSA held a public hearing in Washington DC on 20 September, which heard comments from both privacy advocates and airline industry representatives from Qantas, the Regional Airline Association, IATA, and the American Society of Travel Agents. The privacy advocates came from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Identity Project. All were negative.

The proposals should be withdrawn entirely, argued Edward Hasbrouck, author of The Practical Nomad and the leading expert on travel data privacy. "Obscured by the euphemistic language of 'screening' is the fact that travellers would be required to get permission before they can travel."

Hasbrouck submitted that requiring clearance in order to travel violates the US First Amendment right of assembly, the central claim in John Gilmore's case against the US government over the requirement to show photo ID for domestic travel.

In addition, the TSA is required to study the impact of the proposals on small economic entities (such as sole traders). Finally, the TSA provides no way for individuals to tell whether their government-issued ID is actually required by law, opening the way for rampant identity theft. ...