LISNews: Librarian News

The CBC Reports Dozens of Canadian university and college libraries are changing how they arrange for their students and faculty to do online research, in part because of a U.S. law intended to detect possible terrorist activity.

"It's an issue of privacy; [that's] what it comes down to," said Karen Lippold, a librarian at Memorial University in St. John's.

Conceivably, the searches of a student or faculty member doing work on a sensitive issue could be flagged and then stored in the U.S.

NPR ran a poignant interview with former US Attorney General John Ashcroft a few days ago. Revelations include his hospital-bed rejection of a White House request to push through NSA's warrantless surveillance program, and reflections on his "biggest failure," regarding the USA PATRIOT Act, to "explain it well to the American people." Although he admits he is "almost as mean as I ever was," he draws several historical parallels to recent security measures and comes across as somewhat less... hysterical... than he did during his tenure in the Bush administration.

Kelly writes "Here, from News Hound , (a site that monitors Fox News..."We watch FOX so you don't have to")...Dick Morris, Fox newsman and former President Clinton advisor/now detractor reports 'Democrats Have To Understand That Snooping Through Library Records Is Popular.'

We've covered the idea of inverse surveillance previously. By "watching the watchers," a la George Holliday, it keeps their behavior in check. The ferocity with which some law enforcement personnel -- right up to the top -- have opposed such oversight seems to far outweigh any realistic concerns over security.

Maybe they know that they too can "have something to hide."

Since 9/11, there has also been a steady stream of incidents involving overzealous security guards and police officers hassling people exercising their rights by taking pictures of public places.

Combine these trends and you get last week's story from Philadelphia, where a man was cuffed and jailed allegedly after doing nothing more than taking a picture of another bust with his cell phone.

So what does this have to do with libraries? Well, there's a lot of chatter about how Library 2.0 could take off more if we would just lighten up about that
pesky privacy tenet of our profession. But before we run out and start storing and sharing patron data without proper safeguards and policies, we should be prepared for others abusing the power that this gives them.