Librarians As the First Line of Privacy Defense 51
The Guardian features a look at the influence of librarians in the evolving fight for various of the liberties that here on Slashdot we group together as Your Rights Online. The article points out that the evolution of libraries from book repositiories to more general centers for information technology means that librarians have been pressured in many small ways to give up their patrons' privacy, and have (at least often) successfully resisted that pressure, including some from the NSA. A small slice: The first politician to discover the danger of underestimating what happens when you have thousands of librarians on your case was attorney general John Ashcroft who, in 2003, accused the American Library Association of “baseless hysteria” and ridiculed their protests against the Patriot Act. ... US libraries were once protected from blanket requests for records of what their patrons were reading or viewing online, but the legislation rushed through after after 9/11 threatened to wreck this tradition of confidentiality in ways that presaged later discoveries of bulk telephone and internet record collection."
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Why would anyone need or want hard copy of such a thing, except if they're posing?
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The old mimeographed copies are collector's items, and most of the ones online have been "edited" like a game of telephone.
That said, if you take any of the content seriously and try the things in it, Uncle Darwin will greet you with open arms. The FBI's investigation into the document said as much.
In that light, I think possession of the Cookbook should make you /not/ a target of investigation as "the 'problem' will solve itself sooner or later."
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BMO
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BMO
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Apparently you are under the impression that symbols can only be physical objects.
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You can read it online at the library or print a copy. If, for some reason, the feds come snooping around to find out who saw it, they will not say.
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Knowing is half the battle. The other half is split in two [doylez.com].
More on the Connecticut Four (Score:5, Informative)
This is from about a month ago
http://www.thenation.com/artic... [thenation.com]
We're fucked (Score:3, Insightful)
My local librarians don't even understand why you wouldn't want them keeping a record of who used the computer and when. Some librarians may understand privacy, but most of them are completely clueless about technology.
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It depends. I'm the primary systems admin for an academic library on a very large university campus, and in many cases our librarians are at the vanguard of pointing out privacy issues as they relate to technology. They're not DevOps ninjas backflipping over Happy Hacking keyboards while coding in the night, but they know what's up.
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who is getting their information from a library? (Score:2)
I mean, I am sure the university libraries are busy but in the 21st century the vast majority of information isn't flowing through them. So how do they protect me?
It isn't going to work. What we have to do is anonymize our traffic. Do that and most of their crap won't work.
Holden Caulfield; even before the webz (Score:4, Interesting)
it was always rumored to be on that list of books the government kept track of at public libraries.
Though it's been referenced in popular culture (conspiracy movies and novels) several times, it's curious but perhaps unproven.
Ook! (Score:2)
Ook!
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Decrement the memory cell under the pointer.
Defcon 5!!! (Score:1)
What this tells me is that libraries are hothouses for terrorism. Shut 'em down! Shut them down, now!
Practicing librarian here (Score:5, Insightful)
Offering my two cents.
It's true that libraries operating in this century are faced with the grim spectre of obsolescence. With the advent of the Internet and the ubiquity of computers, tablets, and smartphones, most people have a wealth of information at their fingertips that dwarfs anything to be found among the physical holdings of your local library.
However, this is beside the point.
Libraries offer more than a given collection of information. They offer the principles of universal access, privacy, and the freedom of ideas, all of which seem to have fallen by the wayside in modern times. The American Library Association maintains an Office for Intellectual Freedom [ala.org] specifically dedicated to teaching ethics, supporting privacy and confidentiality, and fighting censorship. Your library is one of the few organizations today that is actively looking out for your best interests and those of your fellow citizens, and asks for virtually nothing in return, save for a few tax dollars to keep the lights on. When you think about all the other stuff your taxes will be used for--including the NSA's continued efforts to spy on you--I believe that's a more than fair trade.
In his interview with John Oliver, Edward Snowden said that by conducting surveillance on Americans, the NSA is effectively holding a gun to your head and asking you to trust that they won't pull the trigger (unless you give them a reason).
Your library is asking the NSA to put down the gun.
Re:Practicing librarian here (Score:5, Interesting)
>obsolescence of libraries
Last century, people were foretelling the future and saying that the Internet was going to be the death of brick-and-mortar retail stores.
I went to buy some suits a month ago. I didn't buy them online, because honestly, my sense of style is nonexistent. You might even call it a negative value. I was lamenting that I was too far away from my favorite store and I didn't know of who to go to, and I was tipped off to a place in Manchester NH (I'm in Concord). In short order, they got me what I needed, and I looked just spiffy according to my fiance.
Online, I would have spent weeks looking and eventually might have found something that looks nice on a hangar, but probably makes me look goofy.
Likewise libraries. Most people going into libraries are looking for specific information and they're fuzzy about where to look. Librarians offer the same level of personal service that the above retailer offered. Librarians are more than just nerdy stock-keepers and book hoarders.
Add on to this that libraries are also meatspace social gathering places if you check out the bulletin boards at the entrances.
Because of this, libraries aren't going away any time soon.
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BMO
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Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.
—Anne Herbert (writer)
Libraries (Score:1)
I've been in a fight with my local library for about 6 months, this after I noticed that multiple business were connecting to my machine while I search for books. One of those connections sent data to a government Piwik database. I managed to get them to improve things somewhat, but they're still using google-analytics and the pages still have the search string in the url, enabling Google to record which books each connecting IP is searching for. In the process, Google also drops tracking cookies. My last r
So old an issue... but nip it in the bud. (Score:5, Interesting)
The head of our local library board (who I don't mind saying is a bit of a heroine of mine) said: "We have no choice? FINE. We'll stop keeping records!"
And they did.
The only records they keep now are currently-checked-out books, which realistically they have to do. In addition to that, they keep records of overdue books. ONLY until the overdue is paid, then EVERYTHING is deleted and you're back to zero.
It was my local library's "Fuck You" to the Federal government. And they made it stick.
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Yep, that's what almost every library does, and for that very reason.
Back then, it wasn't a common practice. It was a pretty radical idea. The city even had a meeting to discuss dismissing her.
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I'd send them hard copy printouts in 6 pt type on anti-copy security paper. It's perfectly legible, even in a photocopy, but a pain to OCR.
Re:So old an issue... but nip it in the bud. (Score:4, Insightful)
So? Can't "the man" just request the list of currently checked out books once a week? It should be sufficient to automatically reconstruct the vast majority of lending metadata.. Seems likely the FBI doesn't really care all that much (there's probably an just A.D somewhere that has this book malarkey on his yearly performance pay evaluation).
They could, but then the equation changes from "I need to know about Bob, go get his lending history from the library" to "I need to do a bunch of paperwork every week, get all the information on everyone, and then store it, in case I someday need to look up Bob (or Sue, or Mike)".
It's the extra layer of hassle that makes all the difference. If Bob suddenly becomes interesting, then they're only going to get his current checked out books. If they want that massive database, they have to be constantly filing paperwork.
National Security Letters (Score:5, Informative)
Librarians where also among the first to fight the National Security Letters:
http://media.ccc.de/browse/con... [media.ccc.de]
John Ashcroft (Score:3, Insightful)
Haven't thought about that peice of shit for a while... what an asshole.
Hushlands (Score:1)
Or so they say (Score:4, Interesting)
Back when the American Library Association was supposedly standing up to Ashcroft and his ilk, my library card mysteriously expired. The one that I applied for decades ago, just by filling out a little card. No problem, they told me. Just apply for another. It will only take a few minutes. And please show some form of government-issued picture ID.
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So all was well with my library card since the mid 1980's until around 2004. And then the library decides it needs a link to an official ID at the same time the DoJ/FBI/CIA comes asking for records.
Yeah, right.
Ex Library worker here (Score:3, Interesting)
I used to be the IT Manager of our local library, and literally 2 weeks into my new job there, I got a call from the Secret Service. Apparently, someone went onto one of our computers, went onto a forum, and made threats to Obama. They wanted all our records, and everything. So, I went to my boss and the Executive Director about it, and they told me "If they don't have a warrant, they don't get shit".
I tell that to the Secret Services, and never heard from them again.
No surprise (Score:2)
As we know from respectable source, there is no higher life-form in the multi-verse than a librarian. That's why Horace Woblehat is not very keen on being turned back into man. Ook?