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New Monitoring Law Concerns Librarians
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Alpha-Omega
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Jul 30, 2003 17:11 PDT
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New Monitoring Law Concerns Librarians
January 25, 2003 08:36 AM EST
PHILADELPHIA - A federal law aimed at catching terrorists has raised the
hackles of many of the nation's librarians, who say it goes too far by
allowing law enforcement agencies to watch what some people are reading.
The USA Patriot Act, passed after the Sept. 11 attacks, gave the FBI new
powers to investigate terrorism, including the ability to look at
library records and computer hard drives to see what books patrons have
checked out, what Web pages they've visited, and where they've sent
e-mails.
The Department of Justice says the new powers are needed to identify
terrorist cells.
But some librarians, who were meeting in Philadelphia for an American
Library Association convention, worry that the FBI has returned to
routinely checking on the reading habits of intellectuals, civil rights
leaders and other Americans.
Those tactics, common in the 1950s and 1960s, were occasionally used to
brand people as Communists.
"Some of this stuff is pretty scary, and we are very concerned that
people's privacy is being violated," American Library Association
President Maurice J. Freedman said.
Some 10,000 librarians from around the world were expected in
Philadelphia for the association's midwinter meeting, which began
Friday. The group will discuss the Patriot Act at a forum Sunday and is
likely to draft a resolution condemning sections of the law that open
library records to police inspection, Freedman said.
Judith Krug, director of the group's Office of Intellectual Freedom,
said routine government inquiries into library records could have a
chilling effect on patrons. For example, she said, some might be afraid
to take out books on Islam out of fear that they might wind up on an FBI
watch list.
Speaking to reporters in Philadelphia last week, FBI Director Robert S.
Mueller sought to play down concerns that the bureau would abuse its
powers.
Mueller said he couldn't recall a case where agents had sought library
records to see what books someone had been reading. Most recent FBI
inquiries into library files, he said, involved tracking suspects who
had used public-access computers to communicate with conspirators or
send threatening e-mails.
He said agents "would not be doing our duty" if they didn't follow leads
into libraries, if that's where an investigation takes them.
The government's new surveillance powers are also limited. The Patriot
Act only gives agents the power to research the library habits of
"agents of a foreign power." Proponents of the law say that should offer
ordinary Americans protection from unwarranted surveillance, although
critics said the term could apply to anyone.
Agents also must obtain a search warrant from a judge, although the act
lets them do so in a secret federal court without the library's
knowledge.
"What's next, installing cameras in libraries so we can see what books
people are reading?" Freedman said. "Sure it sounds far fetched, and it
smacks of Stalinist Russia, but look at what's going on now and you'll
see many things that you never would have believed a few years ago."
Similar outrage has been expressed overseas. On Thursday in Vienna,
Austria, the media watchdog in Europe's leading security organization
criticized the United States for snooping on the private lives of
Americans.
Freimut Duve of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
condemned the FBI and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service
for monitoring library records and bookstore receipts under the Patriot
Act.
"This goes much too far," he said. "It may invite other governments to
do the same."
The library convention in Philadelphia is scheduled to run through
Monday. Participants are also expected to protest cuts in library
funding, discuss how to incorporate Internet-based books into their
collections and announce the winners of several awards.
On the Net:
American Library Association: http://www.ala.org/
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Copyright © 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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