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House Limits Patriot Act Rules on Library Records

Posted by samzenpus on from the guess-what-I'm-reading dept.

xerid writes "From CNN.COM: "WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House voted Wednesday to block the FBI and the Justice Department from using the Patriot Act to search library and book store records. Despite a veto threat from President Bush, lawmakers voted 238-187 to block the part of the anti-terrorism law that allows the government to investigate the reading habits of terror suspects.""

3 of 499 comments (clear)

  1. Thank you, librarians by Bimo_Dude · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Even though it's likely that Bush will veto this, I still am really thankful that we have such outspoken librarians in this country. They have really been helpful in trying to protect people's privacy, and have also done a lot to bring privacy issues to light in the eyes of the public.

    Thank you!!!!!

    --
    "Teleporting Rodents with D-Cell Battery Displacement" theory -- IgnoramusMaximus (692000)
  2. Surely it depends on context by karzan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What the Patriot Act ought to do is act as a signal that something has gone dreadfully wrong in the American system--and therefore must be changed. For one thing, the fact that so many Americans did not oppose it, and were so easily led into accepting a complete contravention of the constitution through a manipulation of irrational fear (what if the terrorists attack my house??) shows us that there is a deeper problem in American culture. No kind of democracy can really work if people are that uncritical and deferential.

    Removing the Patriot Act is going to be incredibly difficult. Any process that does so, whether it is gradual or sudden, is going to first require a change in the whole political and cultural atmosphere, because there are so many people who genuinely believe measures like the Patriot Act are rational. So anything that removes the Patriot Act is going to do more than just remove the Patriot Act (it's not going to just be scrapped by a Democratic administration)

    Whether you do it gradually or suddenly, if the Patriot Act were to be removed by representatives with little cultural change happening, then the deeper causal problems would still be there. But I think we can just as effectively remove it suddenly as we can slowly, if that process is carried out by just that--'We'. Because you're right--until the underlying factors are addressed, there is always the danger of this happening again ... and again.

    But I'm not sure how much that has to do with the *speed* of removing it.

  3. Re:Perhaps we shouldn't be so rash.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm not saying I like the Patriot Act, but I really think that we should be rational in our removal of this disturbance, as we weren't rational with our creation of it in the first place.

    I strongly disagree! For three reasons:
    1. Although enacted as an irrational response to terrorist threat, it has not been used to bring down one terrorist since enacted.
    2. Despite all sorts of assurances while the bill was being discussed, the PA has been used against drug dealers, tax evaders and even the wayward Democratic members of the Texas legislature. This is not a "terrorist" bill; it is a bill that has been used almost exclusively against American citizens!
    3. Now that Congress has actually grown a spine and won't be threatened with being unpatriotic to cram anything through, it is time to send a clear message to Bush et al that the Bill of Rights is more than just toilet paper!