Posted on 06/21/2005 7:58:19 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
The U.S. House of Representatives dealt a blow to Big Brother last week.
The House voted 238-187 to protect our library records and bookstore receipts from willy-nilly government perusal.
The bipartisan vote sent a clear message to the U.S. Senate and to President Bush that the privacy rights of law-abiding American citizens must be respected even as the hard work of fighting and preventing terrorism continues.
Congress and the president are preparing to extend the Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism law quickly approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The president has threatened to veto the measure if Congress makes changes. The Senate should call the president's bluff by accepting the House change.
Libraries and bookstores are not havens for terrorists. They are learning centers for vast numbers of Americans who shouldn't have to worry about which titles or authors they happen to be reading.
Quirky taste in reading material shouldn't prompt or prop up bogus investigations of innocent bookworms. If the Justice Department or the FBI has good reason to suspect someone of terrorism, they should be able to convince a judge that a search warrant for library and bookstore records is warranted. The House change wouldn't prevent that.
A majority of Wisconsin's House members, including all four Democrats and Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Petri of Fond du Lac, voted to block easy government access to our reading records. Those favoring broad government power to peruse our library and bookstore records were U.S. Reps. Mark Green, R-Green Bay - who wants to be Wisconsin's next governor - Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, and James Sensenbrenner, R-Menomonee Falls.
The federal government hasn't even used the provision to obtain library or bookstore records, according to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. If that's the case, why leave this broad, invasive power in place? By the government's own admission, it hasn't done any good and hasn't been needed despite significant and numerous terrorism warnings issued by the government in recent years.
In all likelihood, a potential terrorist would use the Internet to find information for their plot - not the public library or a Borders. And accessing the Internet takes little more than a cheap computer plugged into a phone line at a motel.
Adding to the uselessness of government snooping powers at libraries is the fact that many libraries regularly purge from their computers everything but overdue items.
Even if staunch proponents of a sweeping Patriot Act remain unconvinced, the House threw them a bone. The House version of the Patriot Act carves out permission for government to seek records on Internet use at libraries.
We doubt that power will be any help in terrorism prevention and prosecution, either. But it's less offensive because many libraries limit access to certain Web sites, such as those devoted to pornography.
The Patriot Act may still be needed to make sure our nation is adequately protected. But it's continuation must be coupled with careful thought and concern for the privacy rights of ordinary Americans.
The House vote last week was a welcome step toward protecting people's lives and their liberty.
and how did they know he got it from the library?
Because the FBI has always been able to get those records. I think this whole thing is a red herring. Like the FBI has the time ti look at every single person in the USA's library record.
Oh my gosh, that's the one. That deserves its own thread. Amazing to see Ashcroft write that, knowing what we know now about how he truly feels about government intrusion into individual privacy.
When the government comes to my house, asks to see my computer, personal files, and telephone bill, then asks me why I had cocoa puffs instead of oatmeal for breakfast I'll be pissed, but when they want to see if a book titled "Killing Americans For Dummies" was checked out by Abdullah Ahkbarshana with a student visa from Syria, I not only condone it, I DEMAND IT!!! If you want privacy from the government, go to Barnes and Noble and pay with cash.
Don't worry. You won't have to be pissed about the government coming to search your cocoa puffs. Under the "patriot" act, you'll never know that they did come, and anyone who tells you that they did will be prosecuted. Isn't that a relief?
Of course something did. You were insisting that the information gathered by the government was only being used to keep us safe from the terrorists. Since you, as an ordinary citizen, would have no way of verifying that, as the information isn't made public, the only possible explanation is that you trust them. Q.E.D.
My name is not Abdullah Ahkbarshana, I'm not here on a student visa, I'm not Syrian and I would never check out a book title "Killing Americans for Dummies" so I think I'm ok.
Excuse me .. are you saying that a person who is going on the internet (not in his personal house), but on a public library computer, and is searching for bomb making materials and directions .. IT IS NOT PROBABLE CAUSE AND IT'S UNREASONABLE TO FIND OUT IF HE ALSO CHECKED OUT A BOOK ON HOW TO MAKE EVEN BIGGER BOMBS ..??
Well .. if that's what you believe .. let's hope he chooses your neighborhood.
Before you jump too hard into Ashcroft, you may want to read an article by David A. Keene of the ACU called "Ashcroft: Good intentions on a bad road". I'm sorry, I don't have a link at the moment.
But you own a house or rent an apartment. So they can search it without demonstrating probable cause, not tell you if they don't want to, and prosecute anyone who does tell you. And you're totally ok with that?
amen!! to that
Maybe someone will check your library records to see if you are suitble for employment, or in a child-custody case, or if you run for office.
"But you own a house or rent an apartment. So they can search it without demonstrating probable cause, not tell you if they don't want to, and prosecute anyone who does tell you. And you're totally ok with that?"
Dude or dudette, or whatever you are,...
NO, I'm not ok with that, but we're talking about "PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLICPUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLICPUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC!!!!!!!" libraries. Go back to the top of the page and read the thread title again.
Does anyone out there know how this conversation went from the FBI and public libraries to Mrs. Quirk from accross the street spending the night in the slammer for telling me the cops drove down our street????
Guess what: Despite all those things, government agents would have still have complete immunity in searching you however they want, and it would still be illegal for anyone observing them to report their activities to you.
Well, what books are they looking for? Is there any book or set thereof that indicates one is a terrorist.
I think they want these records to embarass opponents of the Current Administration (whoever that may become.)
After, do you want it bandied about that you once read a book about a noted thespian?
see post number 77
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