Posted on 07/05/2002 6:37:17 AM PDT by Quilla
NAPLES - Deputies seized computer hard drives from a community college's library to examine them for possible terrorist activity after three Middle-Eastern-looking men were seen accessing Islamic Web sites, authorities said Thursday.
Collier County sheriff's deputies responded to a call from the Lely campus of Edison Community College Wednesday and confiscated several computer hard drives, sheriff's spokeswoman Tina Osceola said Thursday night.
Someone at the college reported that three men who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent had been whispering in the library while using the computer terminals to access Islamic newspapers and other materials, she said.
The men were gone by the time deputies arrived, and authorities are not searching for them, Osceola said.
The hard drives were seized in "an abundance of caution," Osceola said, stressing that there was no direct evidence the men were involved in terrorist activity.
"The only thing we were told is that they were whispering and using the computer," Osceola said. "You have to remember, this is a library.
"This is a college where research takes place. People have a right to research whatever they want," she said.
But Osceola said that any call concerning a suspicion of terrorist activity has to be taken seriously.
"The citizens of this country have been told to be vigilant," Osceola said.
Experts with the sheriff's office were to inspect the hard drives and determine which Web sites were accessed and whether e-mails had been sent, Osceola said.
If they looked suspicious enough to call the law, I may have been tempted to follow them and at least provide the authorities with a tag number.
If the Middle Easterners were really planning a terrorist attack, then monitoring their online activities could have been an information source to stop an attack. Now, these guys will be more careful in covering their tracks.
Losing those freedoms seems to be in the works. FOX News last night cited a survey in which fifty percent of those surveyed said they would give up some of their freedoms to be safe.
Our failure to revoke the visas of enemy aliens (foreign nationals who are citizens of terrorist states) is one in a long list of stupidities. Also failure to stop issuing visas to Saudis, Syrians, Egyptians, et al. Visas do not confer rights; they are in essence 'invitations' or 'permits'. We should have told them "adios" on 9/12. Every moment that passes without common-sense measures brings another--much worse--attack closer and more likely.
--Boris
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.