Posted on 10/29/2004 7:40:33 PM PDT by e_castillo
The Patriot Act Strikes Again! First saw this on Digby, then DailyKos, then TalkLeft. Decided I had better look into it. The page is gone now so you'll have to read it here. Don't know who Stephanie Bond is, never read her stuff, won't read her stuff either. But Lady Lightfoot seems to be a fan, so I'm blogging it here. Bad news for Democracy, my friends. Can you say Steve Kurtz?
Patriot Act Hits Close to Home by Stephanie Bond
In the previous Jungle Beat, I reported the narrow defeat of the Freedom to Read Amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State (CJS Appropriations Bill. The amendment would have barred the Justice Department from using money appropriated under the (CJS bill to search bookstore and library records under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. If you think that as women’s fiction writers, we’re immune from scrutiny under the Patriot Act, think again. Last fall, the home of a multi-published author for an RWA-recognized publisher was raided and her writing in materials confiscated. The writer, an RWA and PAN member who asked to be referred to as Dilyn, agreed to he interviewed for this column to alert RWA members of potential risks when conducting research.
SB: What type of story were you researching?
Dilyn: Mainstream women’s fiction adventure. It was set in (Cambodia, all about the theft of antiquities. In my research I learned, about the atrocities that still go on there even today, much of it coming from one the Al Qaeda-linked groups. I actually went back though my book and deleted those specific terrorist references after 9/11 and changed the terrorists to a rogue band of thieves because of 9/11 and terrorist sensitivity.
SB: What types of books did you buy/check out of the library?
Dilyn: I bought and checked out books on Cambodia-- its history, its present struggles, its antiquities and anything I could get my hands on concerning the terrorism going on there...landmines, in particular. And those were the kinds of Web sites I surfed too.
SB: Did you share your reasons for checking out the books with your librarian?
Dilyn: No. My library is huge and highly impersonal. I did the library book search on-line and simply went there to check them out. I also kept those books checked out for well over a year during the writing of my book. Plus, I purchased all my research books online--about six. As far as my Web surfing, I went dozens of places. Many were for non-terrorist aspects of my book, but a few were for gathering specific terrorist information. To be honest, I was surprised to find the Al Qaeda linked to Cambodia. I was only going after the landmine atrocities because they played, a huge part in my story.
SB: Did you have any reason to suspect you were being targeted for a raid, any advance notice?
Dilyn: No. Not a clue. Although, for a while prior to the raid, I thought I was being stalked. Mail was missing from my box, I caught someone searching my trash, I saw a prowler in my yard and actually called the police. One of my neighbors saw someone watching from across the street--she wasn’t sure if it was my house or hers. She called the police, too--turns out they were taking surveillance photos.
SB: When did the raid take place, how long did it last, and what items were confiscated? What agency conducted the raid?
Dilyn: The raid took place last fall, pre-dawn, and it lasted three hours. They banged at my front door first, damaged it coming in, displayed weapons and threatened to kill my dogs. After that, imagine everything you’ve seen on TV, only worse. There were six male agents. One was in the "bad cop" mode the entire time, trying to intimidate me, yelling at me, threatening me. When I had to go to the restroom, he sent an agent along to the bathroom with me. It was a multi-agency raid: Postal Inspectors (for the Web site/email end of it), the FBI, and three officers who would only identify themselves as Federal Police. They took so much--computers, photocopier, files, books, discs, computer programs, CDs of the music by which I write, contracts, absolutely everything I had connected to the writing world. They took pictures off my walls, my office television, pens, a case of paper, postage stamps…even now, after all these months, I still go to get something only to discover it missing.
SB: Have you had any success in retrieving items that were taken?
Dilyn: They brought my computers back within a couple of months--bugged. I have this great computer guy who couldn’t wait to get inside to take a look, and sure enough, they had a program in there to monitor me. I got my discs back, too, all ruined. They still have everything else.
SB: Is it your opinion that the raid was triggered based solely on your book-buying and library habits? Dilyn: The search warrant was specific to items pertaining to my writing and research. plus the agents were absolutely looking for certain books by title--titles of books I had in my possession that were actually included in the warrant. So I know without a doubt that those aspects of our research habits are being monitored. My "Scene of the Crime" series from Writer’s Digest weren’t on the warrant but man, oh man, were they excited to find those! I believe, however, that my Internet research had a large part in this, too. SB: Did your publisher get involved at all in your defense?
Dilyn: I informed my publisher immediately, and they’ve been great—extremely supportive but they’re not involved in my defense. I had to hire a criminal defense attorney who specializes in federal warrants and issues of search and seizure.
For the first several months I was a basket case. I jumped if the dogs barked, cried if someone knocked at the door. But somewhere along the line I realized that I did nothing wrong. I don’t want to make this a debate over The Patriot Act, but its broad scope violated my rights. I have the right to do research as I see fit as long as it’s legal, and to buy or check out the books I want. In the future I will do nothing that I haven’t done in the past. Quite simply, I’m not changing. Sure, I’m aware that I am being monitored, more now than before. But let them monitor me. If, however, you want to fly low on the radar, don’t buy your books online. It’s tougher with the library issue because your library check-out habits are monitored. Not every title, mind you, but the FBI, and now Homeland Security, does watch some "flagged" books. Perhaps instead of checking out a book you think could be a flagged book, read it at the library. Make notes or photocopies of the information you need to keep. As for the Internet—that’s a big question mark because there are definitely Web sites set up for the sole purpose of entrapment. Others are simply being monitored. Obviously I stumbled into one or the other--maybe both. If you want to keep that kind of tracking off your personal computer and keep the Feds away from your personal e-mail address (the government does use several different e-mail tracking programs apparently my e-mail was being tracked by one called Carnivore), use a public library computer, or try a university library.
(My thanks to Dilyn for sharing her disturbing experience.)
Stephanie Bond (www.stephaniebond.com) is the author or reporter who did the so-called interview.
I would like to know if anyone has heard of this bust or can find a police report indicating what this person did. I looked all over the internet and didn't find a thing. This story didn't pass the smell test for various reasons. Sounds like Kerry has some writer friends going back to 1971.
If this is true of our government then I would have to say it is a bullshit thing to happen. If it is not true then I would have to say it is typical liberal bullshit.
"If this is true."
This doesn't even come close to passing the smell test. I have seen this same story somewhere else but with different names. The reason I mention 1971 is because of the Cambodia mine story. Search for lanmine + cambodia and you get allkinds of stories about how theUs made a mess of the country.
Unfortunately, it sounds all too real. Give a bureaucrat power, and they'll use it. Too many of us forget that the whole point of defending the American Way of Life is the right to do whatever we damn well please (within reason), even if it's writing trashy romance novels.
"This was posted last week"
Do you have the link?
Why do you believe this? I can see where this person may have issues with parts of the Patriot Act but I can't see any link to this event. Looking for clues if you have any.
re: posted last week.
Sorry, didn't mean posted on Freerepublic. It was posted here:
http://home.insightbb.com/~d.lawson/Jungle_Beat.htm
last weekend. I saw it there Monday and had some discussions with librarians I know about it.
I saw that but thats Lawsons web page. She was most likely asked by Bond and RWA to pull the article but then it re-appeared at some other blogs which she linked to.
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