Throwing The Book

"Well I'm proud to be an American
cause I might know how to read..."

Awright, it wasn't funny.

Neither is this, but it sure is cool.

Librarians are pissed about the secret powers the government granted itself when it passed the Patriot Act, you know, the one that came after September 11, you know, the one nobody in Congress really bothered to fucking read? One of its many many unexamined provisions allows federal law enforcement officials to obtain a search warrant in secret court and get your library records. Computers being ubiquitous, records are accurate and easily collected. The subject of the search will have no knowledge of it happening and no manner of appeal.

Secret, rapid, no redress.

Some librarians can see past the thin fog of this War On Terrorism and recognize how easily federal law enforcement can obtain warrants for anyone's reading records (which includes Internet use at the library) and have taken countermeasures, destroying checkout records for all patrons, clearing computer usage records, and in some cases, resisting the move to update systems any further to ensure they still have control over them.

Sure, it doesn't seem like much, the feds examining what books you read, but the assumption must run in the opposite direction - what fucking business have they in the first place abrogating American's guaranteed civil liberties so they can go fishing for bad guys? The FBI has a long and sordid history of gathering and maintaining files on citizens who hold opinions that run counter to the dominant thought of the day, and that practice, despite their insipid denials, remains in practice today. Going through your reading records is another way for them to unconstitutionally snoop where they do not belong.

Librarians rock.