Shhh! Big Brother might be reading
Monday, Aug. 11, 2003
By RON HAYES, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Is Big Brother watching what you read?
Don't ask. He won't tell.
And he can arrest anyone who does.
Area librarians are pondering a request from the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, urging them to post signs warning patrons of the USA Patriot Act's power to spy on their reading habits.
"When you can get the records of people who are not suspected of any wrongdoing, we're giving the U.S. attorney general too much power toward walking us down the road to a police state," said Howard Simon, the state organization's executive director.
At the beginning of this month,8/1 the civil liberties watchdog group mailed the signs to the state's 67 county librarians and 11 university libraries.
"ATTENTION," the 10-by-16-inch placards read. "Under Section 215 of the federal USA Patriot Act (Public Law 107-56) records of the books and other materials you borrow from this library may be obtained by federal agents. That federal law prohibits librarians from informing you if records about you have been obtained by federal agents."
The signs were announced as the national ACLU sued Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller to have Section 215 declared unconstitutional on First and Fourth Amendment grounds. That suit was filed in Michigan on behalf of six organizations whose members believe they have been investigated because of their ethnicity, religion and political associations.
Under Section 215, the FBI can obtain "any tangible things," as long as it specifies they are wanted for "an authorized investigation .Ę.Ę. to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities."
The warrants are issued by a three-person Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court appointed by the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The court, which meets in the basement of the Justice Department, requires no evidence of wrongdoing, as required by the Fourth Amendment, and the targets are not allowed to have attorneys present to argue that the warrant should not be issued.
Further, the person served with the order -- a librarian, for example -- is prohibited from disclosing that fact to anyone else.
"The Justice Department is pretending that having to go to this court for the warrant is judicial oversight, but it's not," Simon charged. "It's a rubber stamp."
At the Delray Beach Public Library, where the FBI seized two computers a research librarian identified as having been used by three of the Sept. 11 terrorists, director John Callahan said he had no objection to displaying the ACLU's sign.
"This is something people should be aware of," he said. "The library board would have to approve the display of the sign, but I can't imagine they wouldn't."
But Callahan noted that his library purges all records as soon as a book, video or compact disk is returned. If the FBI wanted to investigate a specific borrower, it could find out only currently checked-out books.
"I believe only libraries for the blind and legally handicapped keep records of users' transitions," Callahan said, "and that's to help them in ordering books for their users' special needs."
Librarians in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties echoed Callahan.
"We have no record of anything checked out after it has been returned intact and on time," said Jerry Brownlee, director of the Palm Beach County library system. "As long as there's no obligation, there's no record."
Like the county libraries, the West Palm Beach Public Library also keeps no records of a borrower's reading list once the books are returned. "I think we would probably lean toward putting them (the signs) up," said Chris Murray, its assistant director. "It's a terrible, terrible law. It's hunting season."
So once a book is returned, librarians delete the borrower's name and keep no record they could turn over to authorities. However, Detective Tom McCauley, the West Palm Beach Police Department's computer specialist, notes that law enforcement could "probably" recover the information if it wanted it.
In St. Lucie County, director Susan Kilmer said she believes the public has a right to know about the Patriot Act's provision but would speak to the county attorney's office before displaying the placard.
Jean Coberly, operations manager for the Martin County's six library branches, said she has tried to emphasize the strength of privacy rights not connected with the Patriot Act.
Not long ago, Coberly recalled, a woman apparently suffering from Alzheimer's disease was found, clearly disoriented. She couldn't identify herself but was carrying a library book, so police asked the librarian to reveal who had checked it out.
The librarian refused but found a novel way of helping. "Someone on the staff knew the person who had checked it out and went to the hospital to see if it was her," Coberly said. "It wasn't, but we were able to help the police without violating the borrower's privacy rights."
Forty-eight states have laws protecting library users' privacy, including Florida, where library records are specifically exempted from the state Sunshine Law. But, Simon noted, the federal Patriot Act would supersede such state or local privacy protections.
In June, Ashcroft told Congress that 170 of the special warrants had been issued in the war on terror -- more than three times the number issued in the preceding 23 years. And they weren't necessarily just for library records.
"The law says 'any tangible things,'" Simon noted. "It could also apply to purchases at bookstores, or e-mail use, hospital records or, most outrageous of all, medical records from family physicians. All these new rules and regulations that allegedly promise a greater degree of privacy into medical records can all be overridden by the Patriot Act."
The placards also say that any questions should be directed to Ashcroft. Simon acknowledged that the campaign is designed to promote opposition to the law as well as educate.
"Well, I'll be looking forward to it," Brownlee said of the warning sign. "But this has not been an issue for us, and I don't go looking for problems. We'll deal with it if it becomes an issue."
And if it does become an issue, he could be arrested for talking about it.
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