Re: Federal agents' visit was a hoax

[Paul Schmehl <pauls () utdallas edu>]

--On December 29, 2005 8:19:39 PM -0500 Valdis.Kletnieks () vt edu wrote:
> Of course there isn't a single word *about libraries* directly.  However,
> what there *is* in the Patriot Act is language authorizing the issuance
> of an NSL for "books, records, papers, documents, and others" (usually
> abbreviated to "business records"). Show me where a library's list of who
> has what book checked out is *not* subject to section 215 as a business
> record of the library... (incidentally, 215 is *very* wide-reaching, as
> it basically says that *any* paper trail you leave *anyplace* is "fair
> game" for an NSL)
First, you have to be under investigation.  That eliminates about 99% of 
the population.  Second, the opponents of the Patriot Act have trumpeted, 
over and over again, that the government can go into any library and see 
what you're checking out and reading, which is, at a minimum, and extreme 
exaggeration.

*If* you're under investigation and *if* you spend a lot of time in a 
library, *then* the government can, with a warrant, find out what you were 
doing there.  That's a far cry from how it's been represented by its 
opponents, who have claimed that *anybody* checking out books from the 
library is at risk of having their records taken by the government without 
a warrant.

BTW, NSLs were struck down as unconstitutional.  Everything done under the 
Patriot Act requires a warrant.

I wish we could get off this subject.  I dislike government as much as 
anybody.  I just can't let the half-truths and untruths pass without 
comment.  There's way too much paranoia and way too much false information 
running around as it is.

Paul Schmehl (pauls () utdallas edu)
Adjunct Information Security Officer
University of Texas at Dallas
AVIEN Founding Member
http://www.utdallas.edu/
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