Librarians Defy Patriot Act

[Cosmic Average]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... atriot_act

Librarians Chafe Under USA Patriot Act
Thu Jul 31, 1:06 PM ET
By JUDITH KOHLER, Associated Press Writer

BOULDER, Colo. - To Priscilla Hudson, public libraries are society's great equalizer, a place where anyone can go to learn regardless of their economic, social or political background.


So she doesn't much like Big Brother peering over their shoulder.


Hudson, manager of Boulder's main library, is among a number of librarians nationwide who oppose a provision in the USA Patriot Act that gives authorities access to records of what people check out from libraries or buy from bookstores.


The law is why Boulder librarians have lately been purging their files on patrons every week, not every couple of months. And experts say other libraries are doing similar things.


"Boulder is truly right in line with what other libraries are doing," said Deborah Caldwell-Stone of the American Library Association in Chicago.


The Justice Department (news - web sites) says the Patriot Act, put in place after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, is crucial in the war on terrorism. Critics say it gives the government too much power.


On Thursday, Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record) introduced legislation that would limit the FBI (news - web sites)'s ability to gather library, bookstore and other records under the act.


The Wisconsin Democrat, the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act, said it makes sense to give authorities some access, but "we can protect both our nation and our privacy and civil liberties."


The previous day, the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) and several Islamic groups filed a lawsuit in Detroit against using the act to let FBI agents monitor the books people read.


The ACLU also said that under a provision of the law, librarians can't tell the patron that the library has given the records to the government, and would be legally bound to secrecy forever.


Even before the lawsuit, librarians across the country had been waging their own form of protest.


The Santa Cruz, Calif., library is more quickly shredding its sign-in sheets for using the computers, Caldwell-Stone said. Other libraries have posted signs warning patrons that federal authorities may review their records.


The Montana Library Association passed a resolution saying it considers parts of the Patriot Act "a present danger to the constitutional rights and privacy rights to library users." Privacy rules there are so strict that Montana librarians must get children's permission before telling their parents what they're reading.


"More so than in other Western states, we have a real privacy feel to our Constitution and also our Montana code," said John Finn of Great Falls, head of the library association.


Government officials emphasized that the act allows the government to obtain "business records," which they said could include library records, though the act makes no mention of libraries.


Caldwell-Stone said libraries cooperate when presented with a search warrant for records. But she said the Patriot Act allows authorities to seize "any relevant tangible item" in an investigation without having to show probable cause that a crime was committed.


Forty-eight states have laws protecting library patrons' privacy, Caldwell-Stone said. The other two, Hawaii and Kentucky, have opinions by their attorneys general upholding the right.





"What the First Amendment protects and what goes on in your head isn't a basis for punishing you," she said.

John Suthers, U.S. attorney in Colorado, said he appreciates the concerns, but said the Patriot Act deals with business records and doesn't specify libraries and bookstores.

The law says the FBI cannot investigate a U.S. citizen on the basis of activities protected by the First Amendment, he said. Justice Department spokeswoman Barbara Comstock also said that part of the law requires court approval to obtain records.

Libraries and book stores across the country, however, support changing the law to make sure they aren't targeted. A book store in Montpelier, Vt., will purge purchase records for customers who ask.

The Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, one of the country's largest independent book stores, won a fight last year to protect a customer's privacy. The Colorado Supreme Court refused to order the store to turn over purchase records in a drug investigation.

The justices said records of what a person reads are constitutionally protected, and police must show a compelling interest in seeing them.

Tattered Cover general manager Matt Miller said because of business considerations, the store isn't purging its records like the Vermont store.

"We certainly respect stores and libraries that choose to handle records in the way they do," Miller said. "We spent two years trying to protect customers' privacy and First Amendment rights. It remains an integral part of our philosophy."

[Alyrium Denryle]

The law says the FBI cannot investigate a U.S. citizen on the basis of activities protected by the First Amendment, he said. Justice Department spokeswoman Barbara Comstock also said that part of the law requires court approval to obtain records.

Yeah... The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) A secret fucking court.

There have been over 15,000 warrant requests, and not one has ever been denied

To obtain your personal records or things under
Section 215, the FBI does not need to show “probable cause” – or any reason – to believe
that you have done anything wrong. It does not
need to show that you are involved in terrorism,
directly or indirectly, or that you work for a
country that sponsors terrorism. If you are a
United States citizen or permanent resident, the
FBI can obtain a Section 215 order against you
based in part on your First Amendment activity –
based, for example, on the books that you borrowed
from the library, the Web sites you visited,
the religious services you attended, or the political
organizations that you joined. If you are not a
citizen or permanent resident, the FBI can obtain
a Section 215 order against you based solely on
your First Amendment activity.

In fact, Section 215 authorizes federal officials
to fish through personal records and belongings
even if they are not investigating any person in
particular. Under Section 215, the FBI could
demand a list of every person who has checked
out a particular book on Islamic fundamentalism.
It could demand a list of people who had
visited a particular Web site. It could demand a
client list from a charity that offers social services
to immigrants.

There is no restriction on the kinds of records or
things that the FBI can demand under Section
215. Before the PATRIOT Act, the FBI’s
authority under this provision was restricted to
a discrete category of business records –
records from vehicle rental agencies, storage
facilities and other similar businesses. Section
215 expands this authority to reach “any tangible
things (including books, records, papers,
documents, and other items),” held by any
organization or person. The FBI could use
Section 215 to demand:
• personal belongings, such as books, letters,
journals, or computers, directly from
one’s home.
• a list of people who have visited a particular
Web site.
• medical records, including psychiatric
records.
• a list of people who have borrowed a particular
book from a public library.
• a membership list from an advocacy
organization like Greenpeace, the
Federalist Society, or the ACLU.
• a list of people who worship at a particular
church, mosque, temple, or synagogue.
• a list of people who subscribe to a particular
periodical.
In fact, the Attorney General himself has
acknowledged that the FBI could use the law
even more broadly. The following exchange
between the Attorney General and Rep. Tammy
Baldwin (D-WI) took place before the House
Judiciary Committee in June 2003:

BALDWIN: Prior to the enactment of the USA
PATRIOT Act, a FISA order for business
records related only to common carriers,
accommodations, storage facilities and
vehicle rentals. Is that correct?
ASHCROFT: Yes, it is....
BALDWIN: OK. Now, under section 215 of the
USA PATRIOT Act, now the government
can obtain any relevant, tangible items. Is
that correct?
ASHCROFT: I think they are authorized to ask
for relevant, tangible items.
BALDWIN: And so that would include things
like book purchase records?
ASHCROFT: ... n the narrow arena in which
they are authorized to ask, yes.
BALDWIN: Alibrary book or computer records?
ASHCROFT: I think it could include a library
book or computer records....
BALDWIN: Education records?
ASHCROFT: I think there are some education
records that would be susceptible to
demand under the court supervision of
FISA, yes.
BALDWIN: Genetic information?
ASHCROFT: ... I think [we] probably could.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Section 215 vastly expands the FBI’s power to
spy on ordinary people living in the United
States, including United States citizens and permanent
residents. It lets the government obtain
personal records or things about anyone – from
libraries, Internet service providers, hospitals, or
any business – merely by asserting that the items
are “sought for” an ongoing terrorism investigation.
Section 215 threatens individual privacy,
because it allows the government free reign to
monitor our activities. It also endangers freedom
of speech, because the threat of government surveillance
inevitably discourages people from
speaking out – and especially from disagreeing
with the government.
Section 215 amends an obscure law called the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA),
which became law in 1978. FISA set out the procedures
that the FBI had to follow when it wanted
to conduct surveillance for foreign intelligence
purposes. The system is extraordinary –
not least because the FISA Court meets in secret,
almost never publishes its decisions, and allows
only the government to appear before it. But of
course it applied only to foreign spies. Thanks to
the PATRIOT Act, the FBI can now use FISA
even in investigations that don’t involve foreign
spies. In fact, under Section 215 the FBI can now
spy on ordinary, law-abiding Americans.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Those quotes came from the ACLU

http://www.aclu.org/Files/OpenFile.cfm?id=13245

[Companion Cube]

If I lived in the US, and my library didn't purge it's records, i'd be tempted to check out a few books on the history of Terrorism...

j/k, of course.

[Darth Yoshi]

My brother checked out some books on Islam and terrorists a while back. I kept joking that I report him to the Homeland Security Department.

[Hamel]

Fascist librarians fighting fascist legislation

[Stark]

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) A secret fucking court.

There have been over 15,000 warrant requests, and not one has ever been denied

I've never heard of the FISC! I assume its an American insitution... isn't the concept of a 'secret' court breaking the idea of due process? Any links on info?

[Stormbringer]

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) A secret fucking court.

There have been over 15,000 warrant requests, and not one has ever been denied

I've never heard of the FISC! I assume its an American insitution... isn't the concept of a 'secret' court breaking the idea of due process? Any links on info?

Basically, it's a court where one can go to obtain search warrants and other such things in the case of classified matters. It's purpose to allow a venue for due process without necessarily having the matter in public. It's essentialy for intelligence and defense matters.

And Alyrium isn't exactly correct. The records are by nature closed and so no one has any idea what's gone on.

[weemadando]

Well done to those Librarians. Now, if the US government was to enforce its policies to the letter, then all of them should be put up against a wall and shot for treason.

Please, please, please let me call the Dubya Regime hypocritical now...

[The Yosemite Bear]

hmm, wonder how long the act would last if certian Conservative Pol.'s ties to Neo-Nazi/Klan groups were confirmed, and they were investigated, Or what if Ted Kennedy's ties to a certian terrorist group got him kicked out of the senate?

[The Dark]

hmm, wonder how long the act would last if certian Conservative Pol.'s ties to Neo-Nazi/Klan groups were confirmed, and they were investigated, Or what if Ted Kennedy's ties to a certian terrorist group got him kicked out of the senate?

Not that it's anywhere on the same level, but what if the fact that Pres. Bush broke Securities and Exchange Commission guidelines on stock transfers came to light? After all, that's what the whole Martha Stewart hullaballoo is over, and GWB earned a few million off what might be considered insider trading.

[Stormbringer]

Well done to those Librarians. Now, if the US government was to enforce its policies to the letter, then all of them should be put up against a wall and shot for treason.

Please, please, please let me call the Dubya Regime hypocritical now...

You have no idea what you're talking about so please shut up already.

[Alyrium Denryle]

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) A secret fucking court.

There have been over 15,000 warrant requests, and not one has ever been denied

I've never heard of the FISC! I assume its an American insitution... isn't the concept of a 'secret' court breaking the idea of due process? Any links on info?

Basically, it's a court where one can go to obtain search warrants and other such things in the case of classified matters. It's purpose to allow a venue for due process without necessarily having the matter in public. It's essentialy for intelligence and defense matters.

And Alyrium isn't exactly correct. The records are by nature closed and so no one has any idea what's gone on.

I posted the link to the info above... from the ACLU.

[weemadando]

Well done to those Librarians. Now, if the US government was to enforce its policies to the letter, then all of them should be put up against a wall and shot for treason.

Please, please, please let me call the Dubya Regime hypocritical now...

You have no idea what you're talking about so please shut up already.

Actually I do, having studied this fucking act as part of my fucking degree. The act that the librarians are committing can be viewed as treason, and to be quite fucking blunt you've got hundreds of people detained already (from international campaigns) who have commited far smaller crimes. So don't bitch to me because the vagaries of the Patriot act and other such bullshit acts of law are selectively enforced.

[phongn]

Somewhat hard to define their acts as treason under Article III Section 3 US Constitution, Anders.

[weemadando]

Somewhat hard to define their acts as treason under Article III Section 3 US Constitution, Anders.

What, acting willfully against the laws governing national security? Destroying "intelligence" documents to deny them to the gov't?

Sounds to me better grounds for treason than most of the other shit cooked up by the patriot act.

[MKSheppard]

hmm, wonder how long the act would last if certian Democrat Pol.'s ties to Neo-Nazi/Klan groups were confirmed

There - fixed it for you. Gotta love Senator Byrd's history.

[phongn]

Somewhat hard to define their acts as treason under Article III Section 3 US Constitution, Anders.

What, acting willfully against the laws governing national security? Destroying "intelligence" documents to deny them to the gov't?

Nope. Treason is a highly specific crime; no-one has been charged with it since 1947 even in cases like United States v Julius Rosenberg. If they couldn't charge someone who gave nuclear secrets for treason, I highly doubt they'll bother trying to get librarians.

[weemadando]

Nope. Treason is a highly specific crime; no-one has been charged with it since 1947 even in cases like United States v Julius Rosenberg. If they couldn't charge someone who gave nuclear secrets for treason, I highly doubt they'll bother trying to get librarians.

My GOD! The US more libertarian than Britain for a change!

*gack* *THUD*

[phongn]

Concession Accepted, Comrade Anders

::watches as some Marines drag his unconscious body away::


EDIT: At any rate, treason usually requires an act of war as well, so it can't be used very often (the last time was in 1947, resulting in the execution of a German spy and the imprisonment of his father, who gave "aid and comfort" whilst knowing what his son was up to)

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

Good thing I don't live in the US, or the USAPATRIOT would use my library records to discover my nefarious plot to use WWII information to do...nefarious things!

[kojikun]

Good thing I don't live in the US, or the PATRIOTS would use my library records to discover my nefarious plot to use WWII information to do...nefarious things!

its USAPATRIOT not PATRIOTS. It stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism"

[Iceberg]

That's fucking scary.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Yes it is. An I hope the ACLU is sucessful at getting it struck down.