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Patriot Act Used to Demand Library Patron Records

Several articles today highlight the significance of yesterday’s ALCU announcement that the government has used authority granted by the Patriot Act, Sec. 505, on National Security Letters, to obtain copies of patron internet related activities from a library institution whose identity cannot be disclosed.

  • The following quote from ALA’s Patrice McDermott is included in the Washington Post article linked above: ..this lawsuit “shows what we’ve been saying all along: that the FBI is indeed very interested in libraries.”
  • See also:

  • this New York Times editorial, Excessive Powers
  • and this ALA report released August 25, 2005: Impact and Analysis of Law Enforcement Activity in Academic and Public Libraries (62 pages, PDF).
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