FBI Bugging Public Libraries

zamiel writes "Bill Olds writes in the Hartford Courant: 'I know my librarian, and I believe she would tell me if the government were tracking my computer use at the library. Don't you agree? No way. There's a gag order. When the FBI uses a court order or a subpoena to gain access to library computers or a list of the names of people who have borrowed certain books, librarians can't tell anyone - not even other librarians or you. They face a stiff federal penalty if they do. It's unfair that librarians should be placed in such a position.'" The American Library Association has a page with advice to librarians and links to previous news stories on the subject.

Comments

It's about time!

[L. VeGas]

Those cranky librarians have been shushing people for years. About time someone shushed them back!

Now you tell me!

[drxenos]

Time to return by copy of "Catcher in the Rye!"

Re:Now you tell me!

[Blkdeath]

Oh shit... thanks for reminding me. I still have my Dr. Suess book. It was due back in 82 :(

Duude! Don't Bundy that book!

(Sorry; couldn't resist)

Wuh?

[kaizenfury7]

What is this...library... you speak of?

Is it anything like the Intarweb?

Re:Wuh?

[The Turd Report]

It is just like the interweb, except you have to leave your house to access it and there is considerably *less* porn.

Re:Wuh?

[McFly69]

No sure, but once I walked into a build named Boston Public LIBRARY, to take a piss. When I was inside, I became scared. There were lunatics sitting in chairs, very quiet, just starting at table tops with a neat stack of papers. Soem were even chantign soemthign without making a soudn but their lips were moving! I was so scared, I pissed all over my shoes and ran out. Never went back in there since then.

One solution...

[Yoda2]

This is easy enough to fix - just burn all the books with questionable content. Might help to cut down on all of the mischief caused by those evil Harry Potter books.

A Good Thing

[fungus]

Security first.

We just cannot let libraries protect terrorits. Imagine if a big "mushroom cloud" were to blow Washington, and we later found out that the author of this crime once borrowed a nuclear science book!

Science books and books with a bias against the US should also be banned. Anyone saying the opposite is against the Homeland Security!!

Slashdot readers = Librarians

[mattyohe]

With the influx of the library/patriot act stories on slashdot lately, im begining to think most of the readers are old, cranky, librarians.

Re:Libraries?

[jazman_777]

The star wars fiction series

Rebel Terrorist How-To Manuals.

Help me

[bayankaran]

I need to go to library. Can someone give me a list of safe books?

Re:USA-PATRIOT

[fudgefactor7]

Next thing: claiming and using your 5th Amendment rights will get you investigated further, because if you need to use the 5th, then clearly you did something wrong and we need to find out what that is!

Dudes, it's turning into "1984". Unelect the current occupants of office, it's our only hope.

Lay off McCarthy

[rizzo]

We in Wisconsin have so little going for us, any publicity, good or bad, is needed.

Of course we do have Jeffrey Dahmer and Ed Gein. Oh wait.

it's christmas for con men!

[shren]

Wow. This is begging - begging! - for a big fat stack of social engineering. You can fake being an FBI man and get into the library records of anyone you want. They're under gag order and they know it, so they won't look into it at all. Just run a line on the librarian about the Patriot Act and federal felony charges if they do anything to breach the secrecy of the inquiry, including looking into it. Even casual checking might reveal to the librarian that they're getting conned, but they can't check, or if they do check they have to do all the checking themselves without telling anyone why! Throw in some bullshit about how open phone lines arn't regarded as secure, and you can convince them that they can't even call the FBI to check your id!

Christmas comes early this year for the black hats! How many other gag orders like this exist under the patriot act? How many people are hindered in finding out if inquiries are coming from a valid source? How many shady groups are already using this enviornment of secrecy to reach thier nefarious ends?

terrorists in libraries

[jdkane]

Now those terrorists posing as librarians don't stand a chance, unless they can pin the blame on some poor fellow with a library card. I always thought my high-school library was weird, and they often use threatening tactics to get their books back. Now I can no longer chalk it up to an over-developed sense of possessiveness.

Handy-dandy Patriot Act Decoder Table

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's the question: "Is this library currently being monitored by the FBI?"

Before act --> After act
"Yes" -> "I'm sorry, we're not allowed to comment"
"No" -> "No"

Seems pretty simple...

At least they won't

[myowntrueself]

get into subpoenas envy!

"My subpoenas bigger than yours! nyah!"

When they catch somebody

[phorm]

Agent #1: You're under arrest

Librarian: Shhhh

Agent #1: You have the right to be silent

Librarian: Shhhh

Agent #1: Somebody shut that librarian up

Agent #2: Shhhhh

Agent #1: Not that way you idiot...