Thursday, 05 September, 2002

studying the USA PATRIOT Act I don't take back anything I wrote in my previous post. It's my emotional response to this issue and that hasn't changed. After further thought I realized that if I'm this opposed to the USA PATRIOT Act as it applies to libraries, then I need to learn about it as a law librarian. The statute and the particular section can be found at Pub. L. No. 107-57, § 215, 2001 U.S.C.C.A.N. (115 Stat.) 272, 287. Section 215 is the section of most concern to libraries. It is actually an amendment of Title V of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1861). It strikes sections 501 through 503. The operative part of the legislation that is so heinous to libraries is the new section 501. Subsection (a) allows the FBI to apply for an order to make any applicable third-party turn over their records relevant to a investigation against international terrorism. A spokesperson for the Department of Justice has noted that the Act does not specifically target libraries and booksellers. That may be true, but we know that it is being used against libraries and overrides the state laws that protect library privacy. It certainly doesn’t give me any comfort to think that this Act may broaden the FBI’s power to investigate any other third parties and then bind them to secrecy! The FBI can apply to obtain "any tangible thing" (books, records, papers, documents or other items) in an authorized investigation of international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities. The only limitation is that a person cannot be investigated in this way solely because of her or his activities that are protected by the first amendment. Subsection (b) specifies that these applications will be made in ex parte proceedings in the secret FISA court. That’s not the actual wording, but it’s my summary. Subsection(c)(2) states that subpoenas issued under this law shall not reveal the purpose of the investigation. Subsection (d) is even more extreme and forbids any person receiving an order from communicating the investigation to anybody else - other than those people who are needed to obtain the information. Finally, subsection (e) protects people from any liability which arises from complying with this law. I would like to study the USA PATRIOT in even more detail, particularly its legislative history (from what I gather, this was rushed through Congress with very little debate or input from the public). I’d also like to compile some more links to other information about this. 6:33:21 PM    comment []

catching thoughtcrime in libraries - "LaRue and other librarians are uneasy with prov .... - "LaRue and other librarians are uneasy with provisions of the Patriot Act that put them at odds with the fundamental belief that what someone reads is nobody's business." "One of our most basic freedoms is the right to read without the government looking over our shoulders. This is what bothers me the most," said Eloise May, director of the Arapahoe Library District in Colorado." "The Patriot Act lets FBI agents see library records of patrons if a "spy court" in Washington secretly approves the request as part of an investigation to prevent another terrorist attack." "To my knowledge, no FBI or CIA person has ever come into a Colorado library and demanded to know anything about someone suspected of terrorism," LaRue said. "But all of us feel on the alert. We know if they demanded this information, we not only have to provide it, we can't tell anyone by law." "The secrecy bothers librarians." (from The News and Observer) [Library Stuff - Updated daily by Steven M. Cohen] The part of this Act dealing with libraries is an abominable combination of secret surveillance. Does anybody seriously believe that this could prevent another terrorist attack? Potential terrorists aren't stupid, they would just get the information from elsewhere - from the web, from places outside the US, or simply by reading and not checking out the books. Unless of course we stand over their shoulders to ascertain what exactly they're reading and why they're reading it. We would make all libraries closed-stack and replace the reference interview with the reference interrogation. Then we could determine if they were committing thoughtcrime and inform law enforcement. Is this what's coming next? Even those Orwellian measures would not achieve anything, potential terrorists would just find other ways to get the information. I could go on and on about this issue and talk about the importance of libraries in a free society and such things. My intention here was to engage and address the feeble arguments in favour of the sections of the USA PATRIOT Act dealing with libraries. The only good news is that librarians' concerns are slowly filtering out into the mainstream media. 3:33:29 PM    comment []

email problems I don't know what I'd do without email, but when it doesn't work properly, it can be really bad. For one thing, it can be difficult to know for sure if you're having problems receiving or sending emails. You may just not receive any email for a while - which in itself is nothing unusual. Or you may send an email and not get a response - again, nothing out of the ordinary. It's enough to make someone feel paranoid! Yesterday I did a little test. I emailed my home email address. The message seemed to go through without any problems. It went into my sent box, there were no bouncebacks etc. But when I got home, that email hadn't arrived. I plan to resend some of the emails I sent yesterday - in case anybody might be wondering why they never heard back from me. 10:37:31 AM    comment []