LISNews: Librarian News

From the Baltimore Sun. Thanks to Carol Casey for the heads up:

There are [many] provisions of the Patriot Act that offend librarians because of excessive secrecy or censorship, but what we surely cannot abide is the government\'s intrusion on library confidentiality.

When the public\'s reading habits and personal communications are subject to government surveillance within the library, the delicate relationship of trust between libraries and their patrons is shattered and the chill on free expression and the right to know may be irrevocable.

This is not a partisan issue.

More.

James Nimmo passed along This Village Voice Story that says the USA Patriot Act can order bookstores to provide lists of books bought by people suspected of involvement in terrorism.

They say the definition of terrorism in the USA Patriot Act is so broad and vague that any number of American readers may be caught in this additional Ashcroft dragnet.

The USA PATRIOT Act and Patron Privacy on Library Internet Terminals by Mary Minow tells us What the USA PATRIOT Act means for libraries.

She says the upshot is that there will be a great many more surveillance orders, everywhere in the country, and in turn there will be more requests for library records, including Internet use records. Think of law enforcement as needing to enter two doors to apprehend a suspect.

Bob Cox pointed us to this ALA Alert on the USA PATRIOT Act.

The new legislation amends the laws governing the
Federal Bureau of Investigation’s access to business
records. One provision orders any person or institution
served with a search warrant not to disclose that such a
warrant has been served or that records have been
produced pursuant to the warrant.

The existence of this provision does not mean that
libraries and librarians served with such a search
warrant cannot ask to consult with their legal counsel
concerning the warrant. A library and its employees can
still seek legal advice concerning the warrant and
request that the library’s legal counsel be present
during the actual search and execution of the warrant.

EPIC has more as well.