Boston's trained bouncers waste little time when presented with a fake. One 18-year-old Harvard first-year attempting to get into the Lansdowne Street nightclub Axis on a 19+ night had her subsequent nightlife crippled.

"I had no intention of purchasing drinks," says the first year, who declined to have her name used. "The bouncer took my ID [a Vermont license which had not been turned down in months] and asked if he could scan it, so I said sure. Then," she continues, "he told me it would be a felony if it didn't scan, so I just said 'I'll just take it and leave,' and he said 'No, I can't give it back to you, it's fake, I have to confiscate it.'"

This first-year's fate is not uncommon, she says.

"At least three other people I know have had their IDs taken since they've been here, all at clubs."

The punishment is particularly unjust, according to this first-year, because these holders of illicit IDs never planned on breaking the law.

"I know three people who just went into New York to buy IDs just to get into clubs, not for alcohol," she says.

Yet despite the universal zero tolerance professed by bouncers and police officers alike, there are some holes in the blue wall between minors and drinks. At Boston University on Saturday night, a few students walk down the street with beers in hand, and we do not stop.

"I could get them for disturbing the peace," says John Kervin, "but I'm not going to."