Hi all, Forwarded message:
Subject: Re: "The Bill of Rights can be dangerous...." From: dlv@bwalk.dm.com (Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM) Date: Sat, 07 Sep 96 09:35:38 EDT
I remember beig surprised to discover that the library computer at City University of New York (state school where I got all my degrees) had an (easily accessible) record of every book I've ever checked out in some 15 years, And by the way you need to present A LOT of ids to take books out of New York's public libraries, or to use the public-access computers in them. And by the way you're asked to sign your name and affiliation (fortunately, no ID is required) if you want to just enter NYPL's Slavic division and use their reading room. Apparently this was instituted during the cold war under the assumption that anyone interested in Slavic Division's materials needs to be watched.
In the very early 80's while I was attending UT Austin the FBI approached the libraries and requested access to the loan records. The libraries refused and went so far as to post a warning at each of the book checkout points on the event. Personaly, I was very proud of them for the refusal and the extra step of the warning.
A very good friend of mine does EE for a living, and in particular he sells some EE equipment by mail order. He told me that every time he sells something like the gizmo to write magnetic strips on credit cards, he gets a phone call from los federales saying: you sold X who paid with Y and shipped it to address Z - do you have any additional details? He says every time they know as much about the sale as he does. :-)
I have been dealing with security electronics for over 10 years and have never been approached by anyone regarding my activities. I make no secret of the fact that I do that sort of work as well as being able to build custom equipment if needed. I would suspect that there is a flag on your friend for something or someone from the past, not on his business in particular. Jim Choate CyberTects ravage@ssz.com