Libraries and Patriot Act
Thursday May 19, 2005
A Washington State librarian has penned an op-ed in USA Today, sharing her experiences after the FBI dropped in last June and demanded a list of the people who had checked out a biography of Osama bin Laden. She outlines the steps that the library followed and the FBI's response: "a subpoena on the library a week later demanding a list of everyone who had borrowed the book since November 2001."
The trustees of this quasi-rural area (Whatcom County is home to much of Washington's dairy industry and is located between Seattle and Bellingham) decided to challenge the FBI subpoena in court. The Feds folded.
She asserts that the Patiot Act was not necessary: library records have always been available -- but there were safeguards. In other words, the Feds couldn't go on a fishing expedition: they would have to convince a judge that they needed library records. Not so with the Patriot Act.
The only reason that Joan Airoldi can talk about last summer's events is because the FBI folded. Had there been "a Patriot Act order in hand, I would have been forbidden to disclose even the fact that I had received it and would not have been able to tell this story."
The trustees of this quasi-rural area (Whatcom County is home to much of Washington's dairy industry and is located between Seattle and Bellingham) decided to challenge the FBI subpoena in court. The Feds folded.
She asserts that the Patiot Act was not necessary: library records have always been available -- but there were safeguards. In other words, the Feds couldn't go on a fishing expedition: they would have to convince a judge that they needed library records. Not so with the Patriot Act.
The only reason that Joan Airoldi can talk about last summer's events is because the FBI folded. Had there been "a Patriot Act order in hand, I would have been forbidden to disclose even the fact that I had received it and would not have been able to tell this story."