[48491] in Cypherpunks
Re: Escrowing Viewing and Reading Habits with the Governmen
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Peter Trei)
Mon Jan 29 14:10:46 1996
From: "Peter Trei" <trei@process.com>
To: <alanh@infi.net>, "timothy c. may" <tcmay@got.net>, cypherpunks@toad.com,
roy@sendai.cybrspc.mn.org
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 1996 14:13:21 -6
Reply-To: trei@process.com
> Date: Sun, 28 Jan 96 21:05:08
> From: <alanh@infi.net>
> Subject: Re: Escrowing Viewing and Reading Habits with the Government
> To: "roy m. silvernail" <roy@sendai.cybrspc.mn.org>
> Cc: "timothy c. may" <tcmay@got.net>, cypherpunks@toad.com
> > > The "Library Awareness Program," administered by the Justice Department, is
> > > designed to identify potential criminals before they have a chance to
> > > commit their deeds. The visits to libraries made by the FBI are used to
> > > determine who is reading subversive or dangerous material.
> Do you really think the FBI believes that asking librarians to keep
> records of customer useage is an efficient way to read the customers minds?
> Do you really think that the FBI foreign counter-intelligence squad has
> nothing better to do than keep a database of who is reading Che Guevara
> memoirs?
Yes.
Heck, I remember this was a big issue about 15 years ago. Try asking
someone who was active in library science in the late 70's, early 80's.
The general reaction of the library community was, I am glad to say,
entirely pro-privacy.
Peter Trei
trei@process.com
