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Originally Posted by Chilek9
There has never been a requirement for "probable cause" to require identification. That requires only mere suspicion. Police can then use the identification process to refine their suspicion to a higher level (this from cases dating back to the sixties and seventies). There is NOTHING new here, cops have been doing it for thirty and more years. I had it done to me in 1983 for the crime of walking down the sidewalk by a city policeman while walking to work. I completely understood then. The law requiring identification is very old and has been challenged many times. Your information is grossly incorrect and you have an expectation for privacy in public (think about that phrase, privacy in public, it's a myth) that does NOT exist and hasn't for a few decades.
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You're correct that you don't have the right of privacy in public, but as I said you have the right to privacy FROM the government in public. The fourth amendment is a restriction on policing power and has no regard whether it's public or private property. Being in public does not waive your right to be secure in your person and papers.
What did you completely understand when that cop asked you for your ID back in 1983? That he had no real reason to do so and was violating the fourth amendment? Where's this law that says you have to show your ID anyway?
There are reasons words like "Police-state" and "paper's please" have such negative connotations in the United States. Past governments that did these kind of things were the most abusive in history, and these kinds of anti-terrorism policies need to be stopped dead in their tracks.