LISNews: Librarian News

Anonymous Patron writes "One From LLRX:Could your library be sued for turning over an Internet user's sign-up information to law enforcement? What if you only did so pursuant to a search warrant? Here is a cautionary tale about an Internet service provider, AOL, that turned over subscriber information to local police in response to a search warrant. The subscriber is now suing AOL, and he just might win. It turns out that AOL apparently did not closely examine the search warrant, which was invalid..."

The American Library Association issued a press release yesterday announcing its opposition to the Justice Department's move to bring broadband internet access within the scope of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act:

CALEA was passed in October 1994 to obligate telecommunications carriers to assist law enforcement in executing court-authorized electronic surveillance, such as wiretapping. In March, the DOJ, the FBI, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency petitioned the FCC to expand the coverage and strengthen the enforcement of CALEA.

[ALA states] that if the petition is granted, “innovation will be threatened, privacy diminished, and unnecessary costs imposed� on libraries and campuses that provide broadband connectivity. The groups also maintain that the expansion of CALEA could hinder the efficiency and security of existing applications and could require libraries to collect and retain more personally identifiable information about patron use, which would then be subject to requests under the USA Patriot Act.

Complete press release.

The 'Privacy' Jihad is an opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal on those pesky privacy advocates, the "privacy community," "privacy vigilantes," "Privacy zealots," "privacy battalions," "privacy onslaught," "the privocrats." Heather Mac Donald says just when the country should be unleashing its technological ingenuity to defend against future attacks, scientists stand irresolute, cowed into inaction. "The "privocrats" will rightly tell you that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Trouble is, they're aiming their vigilance at the wrong target."

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Shopping sites, banking sites, auction sites, and pretty much all other sites that ask you for personal information, including TechTV, have a privacy policy. The policy states how the site collects and uses your personal information. You should always read a site's privacy policy before handing over your name, email address, credit card number, or anything else you'd rather not share with complete strangers.

Instead of telling you to dig around each website to read its privacy, let Internet Explorer show you how websites plan to use your information. Read More.