Expanded FBI Powers
Threaten Library Privacy Protection
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft May 30 gave the FBI expanded authority for its agents to monitor Internet chat rooms, Web sites, and commercial databases in search of clues to suspected terrorist activities; and to initiate inquiries at libraries and other public places without a warrant or even the need to show that a crime was committed.
“Our philosophy today is not to wait and sift through the rubble following a terrorist attack,” Ashcroft said at a news conference. “Rather, the FBI must intervene early and investigate aggressively where information exists.”
The new guidelines allow the FBI to send undercover agents to any event “open to the public”—including political gatherings and places of worship—to look for signs of terrorist or criminal activity. The agency will also be able to collect information on consumers through magazine subscriptions, book purchases, charitable contributions, and travel itineraries.
The new powers clash dramatically with the obligation of public libraries to maintain the privacy of their records, an issue that caused consternation when the FBI confiscated library computer records following the terrorist attacks of September 11. The new authority expands the spying power of the agency permitted by the USA Patriot Act signed into law by President Bush last October—legislation that many civil liberties groups found already too broad.
“There could be agents in the library looking at what people are reading, looking over someone’s shoulder while they’re on the Internet,” said American Library Association Washington Office Executive Director Emily Sheketoff. “What I’m afraid of as an American citizen is that they’re going to look at the kinds of magazines I subscribe to . . . and use that as probable cause” to investigate further.
Posted June 3, 2002.
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