"Terror Reading"

[Steve Schear]

At 10:48 AM 6/26/2002 -0400, Kathleen Dolan wrote:
>>In many states, it is illegal to store records showing who borrowed a
>>book from a public library. Maryland, for example, requires destruction of
>>the record after a point and even backups cannot be accessed without a
>>court order.
>>
>>KAD
>
>Say a public library implements a policy of replying positively to all 
>such inquiries, that is, if asked by a patron the db admin will tell them 
>when their account is free of such inquiries.  If a request does come in 
>then the db admin can either: fail to respond (monitoring implied), tell 
>them they are being monitored (violating the law) or lie and say they are 
>not even if they are.  So, can the Feds require a librarian to lie to a 
>customer who inquires whether their library usage is being monitored?

Looks like at least one library is trying a variation the method I suggested...

"The Patriot Act also prohibits libraries and others from notifying patrons 
and others that an investigation is ongoing. At least one library has tried 
a solution to "beat the system" by regularly informing the board of 
directors that there are no investigations. If the director does not notify 
the Board that there are no investigations, it can serve as a clue that 
something may be happening. "

http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/1706/1/41


steve

A foolish Constitutional inconsistency is the hobgoblin of freedom, adored 
by judges and demagogue statesmen.
- Steve Schear