:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::
"Everything is being compressed into tiny tablets. You take a little pill of news every day - 23 minutes - and that's supposed to be enough." -Walter Cronkite, RE TV news. The Web has changed that for many, however, and here is an extra dose for your daily news cocktail. This prescription tends to include surveillance and now war-related links, along with the occasional pop culture junk and whatever else seizes my attention as I scan online news sites.:: 2.21.2003 ::
:: Patriot II update ::
From the Pioneer Press Online: Libraries seek guidance on Patriot Act
"If an FBI agent wants to see a list of all the Web sites a patron has visited while at the Lake Villa and Warren-Newport libraries in the last year, the librarian, by law, has to produce the materials. That includes all e-mails the patron may have sent, any books that are checked out — any piece of information the library has about the patron."
"The FBI agent needs a court order, but does not have to prove justifiable cause, as has been the case in the past. And the librarian who handed over the information cannot tell anyone about the FBI visit."
"That, in a nutshell, is what’s in Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, passed by Congress Oct. 25, 2001, and signed by President George W. Bush in November 2001."
"Lake County librarians, who met last week at a special seminar to discuss the ramifications of this Act, are looking to the North Suburban Library System as well as the American Library Association for guidance."
"Now a draft of a possible law called Patriot II is being bantered about Congress. If passed, any library staff who tells anyone about the FBI visit could be subject to five years imprisonment."
posted by me
:: 12:51:00 AM [+] ::
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