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What "freedoms" have we given up as a result of the Patriot Act? What can't you do now that you could do on Sept. 10, 2001?

Buy a book without worrying that the FBI might go to a secret court to find out what books I'm buying.

Exactly.

"Buy a book without worrying that the FBI might go to a secret court to find out what books I'm buying."

Is that the best you can do? Every year billions of books are purchased from stores or checked out from libraries by tens of millions of people. Do you seriously think the FBI has the time, resources , or interest in monitoring the book purchases of the average citizen? They barely have the resources or inclination to follow through on actual tips they receive from the public or other law enforcement agencies (as was made clear in the post-9/11 investigations). This was a freak case involving a tip based on an unusual notation written in a book. It had nothing to do with random government monitoring of book usage or book purchases. I read somewhere that in the first 16 months after the Patriot Act was passed, not one single library account was subpoenaed.