Slashdot Mirror
Librarians As the First Line of Privacy Defense
The Guardian features a look at the influence of librarians in the evolving fight for various of the liberties that here on Slashdot we group together as Your Rights Online. The article points out that the evolution of libraries from book repositiories to more general centers for information technology means that librarians have been pressured in many small ways to give up their patrons' privacy, and have (at least often) successfully resisted that pressure, including some from the NSA. A small slice: The first politician to discover the danger of underestimating what happens when you have thousands of librarians on your case was attorney general John Ashcroft who, in 2003, accused the American Library Association of “baseless hysteria” and ridiculed their protests against the Patriot Act. ... US libraries were once protected from blanket requests for records of what their patrons were reading or viewing online, but the legislation rushed through after after 9/11 threatened to wreck this tradition of confidentiality in ways that presaged later discoveries of bulk telephone and internet record collection."
it was always rumored to be on that list of books the government kept track of at public libraries.
Though it's been referenced in popular culture (conspiracy movies and novels) several times, it's curious but perhaps unproven.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
After 9/11, FBI announced that it would (without any Constitutional or Congressional authorization) demand records from local libraries. Records about who checked out which books, when.
The head of our local library board (who I don't mind saying is a bit of a heroine of mine) said: "We have no choice? FINE. We'll stop keeping records!"
And they did.
The only records they keep now are currently-checked-out books, which realistically they have to do. In addition to that, they keep records of overdue books. ONLY until the overdue is paid, then EVERYTHING is deleted and you're back to zero.
It was my local library's "Fuck You" to the Federal government. And they made it stick.
Back when the American Library Association was supposedly standing up to Ashcroft and his ilk, my library card mysteriously expired. The one that I applied for decades ago, just by filling out a little card. No problem, they told me. Just apply for another. It will only take a few minutes. And please show some form of government-issued picture ID.
Have gnu, will travel.
I used to be the IT Manager of our local library, and literally 2 weeks into my new job there, I got a call from the Secret Service. Apparently, someone went onto one of our computers, went onto a forum, and made threats to Obama. They wanted all our records, and everything. So, I went to my boss and the Executive Director about it, and they told me "If they don't have a warrant, they don't get shit".
I tell that to the Secret Services, and never heard from them again.
>obsolescence of libraries
Last century, people were foretelling the future and saying that the Internet was going to be the death of brick-and-mortar retail stores.
I went to buy some suits a month ago. I didn't buy them online, because honestly, my sense of style is nonexistent. You might even call it a negative value. I was lamenting that I was too far away from my favorite store and I didn't know of who to go to, and I was tipped off to a place in Manchester NH (I'm in Concord). In short order, they got me what I needed, and I looked just spiffy according to my fiance.
Online, I would have spent weeks looking and eventually might have found something that looks nice on a hangar, but probably makes me look goofy.
Likewise libraries. Most people going into libraries are looking for specific information and they're fuzzy about where to look. Librarians offer the same level of personal service that the above retailer offered. Librarians are more than just nerdy stock-keepers and book hoarders.
Add on to this that libraries are also meatspace social gathering places if you check out the bulletin boards at the entrances.
Because of this, libraries aren't going away any time soon.
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BMO