Wednesday, November 17, 2010

"Libraries and Liberties"

Here is a transcript from the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer yesterday that featured Anne Turner and Mary Minow discussing the Patriot Act. Links to the streaming video and to the audio version are available.



"East Bay Libraries Quietly Oppose Patriot Act"


"The response here has been relatively hushed, even though many librarians bitterly oppose the provision. County and city librarians say they have tweaked their systems to scrap circulation and Internet records more quickly, but fear loud warnings could scare off patrons.

The Santa Cruz reaction "does inflame patrons. It alarms them unnecessarily," said Linda Wood, director of the Alameda County Public Library.

Contra Costa County library staffers have been trained to notify supervisors before responding to an FBI subpoena. They diligently remove patron data as soon as a book comes back, said county librarian Anne Cain."

And "...after intense debate, Berkeley library officials chose to skip public warnings."




Failure to Protect Privacy Nets Disclosure of Personal Information


Legislators were not pleased by "a decision by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights to post on the Internet partial Social Security numbers of lawmakers who did not support the latest attempt to increase protections on personal financial information."

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