Remember when we were told everybody was over-reacting to the library records provision of the Patriot Act? Remember how we were told we could simply put our trust in the whims of men to not abuse that authority. Remember how we were told that the provision hadn't been used, and likely never would be?
Well, throw all that in the toilet. In today's NY Times, there's a report that the FBI has issued its first confirmed "national security letter" to examine library reading habits in Connecticut.
[I apologize for any diary redundancy, but this is too big to bury -- AntiChimp gets big points on this matter: Big Brother is in the Library]
Using its expanded power under the antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act, the F.B.I. is demanding library records from a Connecticut institution as part of an intelligence investigation, the American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday.
The demand is the first confirmed instance in which the Federal Bureau of Investigation has used the law in this way, federal officials and the A.C.L.U. said. The government's power to demand access to library borrowing records and other material showing reading habits has been the single most divisive issue in the debate over whether Congress should extend key elements of the act after this year.
And there are so many dangers.
For one, there is no judicial oversight:
The A.C.L.U. said that in the Connecticut case, the bureau was using a separate investigative tool, a type of administrative subpoena known as a national security letter, to get records related to library patrons, reading materials and patrons' use of the Internet.
The bureau's power to use national security letters to demand records without a judge's approval was expanded under the antiterrorism law. Last year, a federal judge in Manhattan struck down part of the subpoena provision as unconstitutional, in part because it allowed for no judicial oversight, but the Justice Department is appealing the ruling.
And here's the ultimate Catch 22 reality. On the one hand, we're being told not to jump the gun here:
"Not all the facts have come out here. But national security letters are a legitimate investigative tool, and to draw conclusions without knowing what the underlying facts are, people have to be careful about that."
BUT guess what? ... Because of the secrecy provisions in the law, it will be a permanently uphill battle to EVER find out what's going on:
Because of federal secrecy requirements, the A.C.L.U. said it was barred from disclosing the identity of the institution or other main details of the bureau's demand, but court papers indicate that the target is a library in the Bridgeport area.
The A.C.L.U. said it would seek an emergency order allowing it to discuss details of the case publicly. A hearing has been set for Wednesday in federal court in Bridgeport.
But of course:
Administration officials have repeatedly emphasized that they have no interest in investigating the reading habits of law-abiding Americans.
This is bullshit - we're a nation of LAWS, not men... NEVER in America should we simply have to take somebody's word that our rights won't be violated...