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Posted June 9, 2003.

Reader Revolt against Patriot Act Gains Steam

Four students from the University of California in Santa Cruz staged an anti–Patriot Act protest outside the city’s public library May 31 to raise awareness of government surveillance. Protester Carolyn Riggs explained that she and three other students had recently discovered that their research on German terrorist Ulrike Meinhof might have triggered federal agents to investigate them; the library, whose officials admitted in the March 12 Washington Post to having had 10 branches monitored by the FBI, has posted warning signs that patrons’ reading patterns might be watched. “It’s a form of censorship,” Riggs declared. “The government is directing our path of education by reading over our shoulders.”

“I think it’s wonderful they’re here,” SCPL Chief Anne Turner said in the June 1 Santa Cruz Sentinel of the protesters. Apparently so did the PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer, which filmed students browsing books they believed could trigger a federal investigation of their readers.

The fears expressed in Santa Cruz are shared by at least one Richmond (Calif.) Public Library patron, according to RPL worker Tarnel Abbott. “He was a regular library user and he said he’s afraid now that federal agents can review his reading habits,” testified Abbott to the Contra Costa County Commission June 3, adding that the patron won’t frequent the library anymore because of his concerns. Commissioners voted unanimously that same day to condemn the 2001 law’s broad reach as threatening to the “liberties of our residents and the foundations of our democracy,” according to the June 4 San Francisco Chronicle.

While more than 100 localities have passed resolutions against the Patriot Act, some communities still support the law. Characterizing herself as “very patriotic,” Porterville, California, City Librarian Carolyn Johnson said in the June 3 Porterville Recorder, “If I have an FBI person in here asking for records, I’m going to give them to them.” She added, “If you don’t have something to hide, what are you worried about?”

Posted June 9, 2003.