MetaFilter posts tagged with fbi and libraries

FBI's Surveillance Grows by 100X

digaman — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 12:15:42 -0800

The FBI knows you're reading MetaFilter. [WashPost link]

The Patriot Act? Scarry indeed

digaman — Mon, 03 May 2004 09:54:13 -0800

A thorough analysis of the Patriot Act's effects on civil liberties by author Elaine Scarry. "Ashcroft dismissed the idea that the Justice Department could conceivably care about librarians or library records... [however,] a University of Illinois study... found that by February of 2002 (four months after the Patriot Act was passed) 4 percent of all U.S. libraries, and 11 percent of all libraries in communities of more than 50,000 people had already been visited by FBI agents requesting information about their patrons' reading habits." [via Harper's magazine]

FBI in the library

Espoo2 — Sun, 22 Jun 2003 23:45:59 -0800

The FBI has not been here. Librarians, who can be required by the FBI to submit library records of private citizens under the PATRIOT Act--and who are prohibited from making these requests public--have invented some clever, legal strategies to fight back. (via japanesejoint.com)

insomnyuk — Tue, 25 Jun 2002 11:22:04 -0800

Is your library unpatriotic? The FBI has now started checking library records. According to the USA Patriot Act, the FBI can research library records, all they have to do is prove a diluted form of probable cause to a secret court. Some librarians say they will resist the attempts by the FBI to view the reading histories of their patrons. If you think your local librarian is being unpatriotic or subversive, please send them hate mail, report them to the FBI.....