September 15, 2004

Wired: Don’t Mess with Librarians

Wired has an article today on librarians’ resistance to the USA Patriot Act. In case you were unaware, the Patriot Act allows the government to access personal records without a subpoena or even suspicion of a specific crime.

The ALA challenged Ashcroft to reveal the number of times law enforcement had requested library records. In response, the Department of Justice released a declassified memo that claimed the number was zero, which was contradicted by a University of Illinois Library Research Center study that found more than a dozen libraries had received visits and requests for information from law enforcement.

See the Wikipedia for a list of alleged abuses of the Patriot Act

It all leaves one feeling a teensy bit out-of-control…