Library Confrontation Points Up Privacy Dilemma

[DeSwiss]

Source: Associated Press

Library confrontation points up privacy dilemma

By JOHN CURRAN, Associated Press Writer
4 minutes ago


Library Director Amy Grasmick sits in the Kimball Public Library's children's
room where public access computers are in use in Randolph, Vt., Friday, July
18, 2008. Five state police detectives wanted to seize Kimball Public Library's
public access computers as they frantically searched for a 12-year-old girl,
acting on a tip that she sometimes used the terminals. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

RANDOLPH, Vt. - Children's librarian Judith Flint was getting ready for the monthly book discussion group for 8- and 9-year-olds on "Love That Dog" when police showed up. They weren't kidding around: Five state police detectives wanted to seize Kimball Public Library's public access computers as they frantically searched for a 12-year-old girl, acting on a tip that she sometimes used the terminals.

Flint demanded a search warrant, touching off a confrontation that pitted the privacy rights of library patrons against the rights of police on official business. "It's one of the most difficult situations a library can face," said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, deputy director of intellectual freedom issues for the American Library Association.

Investigators did obtain a warrant about eight hours later, but the June 26 standoff in the 105-year-old, red brick library on Main Street frustrated police and had fellow librarians cheering Flint. "What I observed when I came in were a bunch of very tall men encircling a very small woman," said the library's director, Amy Grasmick, who held fast to the need for a warrant after coming to the rescue of the 4-foot-10 Flint.

Library records and patron privacy have been hot topics since the passage of the U.S. Patriot Act after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Library advocates have accused the government of using the anti-terrorism law to find out — without proper judicial oversight or after-the-fact reviews — what people research in libraries. But the investigation of Brooke Bennett's disappearance wasn't a Patriot Act case.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080719/ap_on_re_us/library_privacy

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- I see no dilemma here. Either you have a warrant or a court order, or you don't.....
==============================================================================
DeSwiss


http://www.atheisttoolbox.com/">The Atheist Toolbox

[Trillo]

1. Yeah, congrats to the librarian,

but there's still a problem there. Surely there's a lot of unrelated information on those drives having nothing to do with the missing girl, and police aren't saying they won't look at that data in their 'investigation of limited scope'.

[Journeyman]

2. Yes. The only "confrontation" here was the librarian's struggle with her own conscience. . .

She could have taken the "easy" way out, given in to "official" demands, and probably no one would have ever known the difference -- except Judith Flint. That she followed the dictates of her conscience, and held firm to those civil beliefs we should all hold in common, speaks volumes to her character. That the newspaper labeled this a "confrontation" speaks equally to their pusillanimity.

[gratuitous]

8. For all the ersatz heroism celebrated today

This is what the real deal looks like. The easy way out, the way taken by the megacorporation telephone companies, the way taken by the cowards at Abu Ghraib, the way taken by Scooter Libby and his pals in the White House, is the path to losing your soul. Fuck that. I'll take Judith Flint over any 50 "heroes" extolled by the popular media any day of the week.

[Patchuli]

13. Librarians are warriors for freedom

and I love them! Yay Judith!!!! :patriot:

[bertman]

3. President Dumbass should be giving the Medal of Freedom to Amy Grasmick,

a true American patriot and hero, instead of shitholes like George Tenet and Paul Bremer, who are fascist pigs.

[marias23]

4. Bravo Amy

[Pastiche423]

5. Soon after the Patriot Act was signed

I went to my local library, looking for a book I had checked out before but couldn't remember the name. I asked the librarian if it would be on my account record.

She gave me a funny smile and said, "We don't keep records of your past reading here." I smiled back, knowing exactly what she meant.

Librarians ROCK!

Congrats to Amy and her fellow librarians for being true patriots!

[havocmom]

7. be very kind to your local librarian. He/she may be one of the 50,000 per year under too much stress

from having been put under a gag order after receiving an NSA letter and federal warrant.

Most people have no idea what is going down at many libraries. Be supportive and let them know you appreciate anything they may be doing to assure privacy for Americans. ;)

edited for typo

[Pastiche423]

9. The librarians at my library know me

very well. ;-) They also know that I am the person in 2002 that began ordering "liberal" books for the library to buy while most people were still afraid of the terroists (government).

[skooooo]

10. Yep it's standard practice...

..destroy old information. However, if the feds really want to get to it, they can.

[Pastiche423]

11. How can they get records that don't exist?

[skooooo]

12. Because of ...

contracts with outside companies that provide database services. It's possible for information to be passed on to these companies when using certain services.

[Pastiche423]

14. What outside companies?

My library has no need to use any database services.

[MountainLaurel]

21. Do they have an online catalog

And do you have a library card that is scanned to access your record. That's the database being talked about here.

[Pastiche423]

22. Yes they do

The pertinent part states:

LIBRARY RECORDS RETENTION POLICY

The Coastline librarians have an ethical responsibility, based on state statute, to protect the confidentiality of library users, including information sought or received, and materials consulted, borrowed, acquired, or transmitted, or any other personally identifiable uses of library materials, facilities, or services. As caretakers of library users’ personal information, Coastline librarians have the responsibility to prevent access to that information that will result in patron privacy violations. It is the policy of the Coastline librarians to guard against such violations through system security and appropriate data practices.

The libraries cannot guarantee absolute privacy for library users. Electronic data or activity can, and will, be secured internally, but network traffic and data external to library physical networks that passes through a public communications network is outside the control of the libraries to secure. However, library staff will ensure that privacy is taken into account whenever information about individuals is gathered and stored. The minimum information, whether electronic or print, necessary to meet legitimate library goals will be kept, and it will be kept only as long as truly needed for library purposes or as required by records retention laws.

1. Borrower circulation information is automatically expunged by the Coastline computer system upon return of materials from circulation and is not retrievable, i.e., the link between borrower and material checked out is broken upon return unless Reading History is activated.

2. Users of library computers for Internet access or any other purpose will be asked only for identifying information that is absolutely necessary for the operation of the library. Any such necessary information that is obtained will be eliminated at the end of each day. No search histories, bookmarks, word processing documents, files, or any other patron-created computer data are saved on any public terminals. Disk clean up is run on each public computer nightly. Cookies, browser cached files, recycle bin data, and all other “deleted” or “session-related” files are eliminated at the end of each day up to the ability of any available software to execute. The libraries do not allow use of email clients on public computers so patron email messages sent or received using their own web-based accounts are not housed on library servers.

3. Paper applications for library cards will be kept no longer than one week after entry of the data into the Coastline system and verification of accuracy.

4. Information relating to interlibrary loan transactions will be retained by local libraries no longer than sixty days following termination of a transaction. The ESO will retain such information for in accordance with the records retention policy of the college.

5. Information on use of library meeting rooms or other facilities will be kept no longer than is necessary for operation of the library, including application forms containing names, organizational affiliation, phone numbers, or other data, and calendars of usage.

http://www.cooslibraries.org/screens/privacy.html

[havocmom]

6. If it is Feds who show up with an NSA letter, librianans cannot even tell their spouses

Only their library's attorney gets word of it. And it is estimated that about 50,000 such letters have been served PER YEAR since 9/11 changed everything (related to privacy)

Last spring, I got to meet two of the 'Does' in this one: http://ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2006abc/june2006ab/johndoeshed.cfm Their tale was terrifying, especially since they were (at that time, I believe one other librarian has since won a case) only people ever to beat the gag order and win the right to tell the nation of this.

Chase and Christensen WANTED to beat the gag order in court in a more timely fashion as Congress was, at the time, considering renewal of the Patriot Act. Congress was being told than NO NSA letters had been served to ANY libraries. Chase and Christensen knew that was an outright lie and wanted to secure the right to prove the lie to Congress.

Long story short, they won the case, but not in time to testify that the administration was lying to Congress about what was really going on with the Patriot Act. They addressed us at a conference and said there are 50,000 librarians/libraries per year being served such letters and being placed under the gag order. With the new patriot act, library employees can be put in prison for violating the gag order, but... federal agents will only be allowed to serve NSA to libraries which have internet access... which means just about any public library in America.

If I get served such a letter and search warrant, I can't tell my spouse, my daughter, my dog, my pastor, no body save our facility's attorney. A county official asked me "Well, surely you would be allowed to tell the county commissioners, wouldn't you?" Nope. The only tip off would be if I started spending time with the attorney.

Bottom line: Make sure your public library has a privacy policy in place, that the public access computers are regularly cleared of browsing history, cache, and so on.

Now, for the problem of local police investigations v library policy, one hopes a sane privacy policy is in place at the library and any police warrant is specific and legitimate. Have heard an awful lot of horror stories about improper warrants, even UNSIGNED warrants, fishing expedition warrants and so on.

It is a problem and it is probably closer to home than most people realize.

google this: "CT librarian + lawsuit v Gonzales" for more info on the CT library consortium staff that beat Alberto Gonzales

[MiddleRiverRefugee]

18. Seems to me if the NSA is saying these letters don't exist...

then you have the right to treat them as if they don't exist.

Assuming you've got nothing else to lose: Why not just refuse to talk to ANYONE about an NSA letter you receive, including any attorneys, anyone claiming to be from the Government, anyone at all? If ou get hauled before the judge you can simply say that none of the people who contacted you on the matter were known to you previously and none were able to provide sufficient identification to satisfy you that they were authorized to discuss the matter with you. What are you supposed to do - talk to any clown with a badge who asks you to?

They gave you a Catch-22, use it.

[fishwax]

15. k/r for the librarian

and librarians in general :applause:

:kick:

[marshall]

16. Does anybody know if they found the 12 year old girl?

And if so, was it due to the computer in the library lead?
I know we've got larger issues at play here, but I was just wondering.

[JVS]

17. found dead on july 2 according to article

[marshall]

19. Very sad ending for the girl, but a positive outcome for civil liberties

As a librarian myself I think about such things quite often. While I do understand the sentiment of frantic police officers caught in the midst of an emtional serach for a child, that does not give them the right to preclude the privacy of the library patrons. Many, many, many people have died to protect our civil liberties and clear headed individuals like this librarian must step forward in time of emotional crisis and speak rationally and with a level voice. One life is not worth losing what this country has built for over two centuries.

[bklyncowgirl]

20. As a librarian, this has always been my nightmare--but here's a funny story.

One fine day at the library one of the circulation desk came into my office and said. "The FBI is here"

My blood turned cold, my face turned white as a sheet, you know all the cliches. My mind was racing. I grabbed my copy of the relevant state law requiring a court order, knowing at that time that the Patriot act had superceded the state law and the whole thing was in some sort of legal limbo. I told my assistant to look up the number for the Town Attorney--oh shit--could I call a lawyer. What did that law say anyway.

I walked out and said in what I hoped was a calm professional voice, "How can I help you, gentlemen?"

The FBI man dressed in his black FBI suit and looking very official said. "This is sort of embarrasing, but our computers are out at the office and we need to check our e-mail. Is there any way we could use two of your computers for a few minutes.?"

"You need to use our computers?" I said in disbelief. "Sure. We usually charge a dollar an hour for non-residents but for you gentlemen we'll waive the charge."

I printed up the guest cards and sent the agents off to the computers. A couple of minutes later they got up, insisted on paying the two dollars and left.

Thank God!