Patriot Act fight centers on libraries

Both houses of Congress have elected to renew the Patriot Act. This includes the controversial "library provision" which defines the guidelines by which the government may seize information regarding library loans and purchases from bookstores.

While the Justice Department claims that it has yet to invoke the law to attain information from libraries and bookstores, the "American Library Association says its research shows that since October 2001, law enforcement officials have contacted libraries at least 200 times for things such as circulation records and computer hard drives."

Previously, the FBI would be required to get a grand jury subpoena to obtain such records. This required that the information be relevant to a criminal probe. Those who receive such requests could challenge the subpoena before a judge.

The Patriot Act throws that out the door. The government is giving the authority to "request" this information through a secret spy court. Anyone who receives these information requests are then unable to challenge the request, and a gag order is placed on them to prevent them from airing this bit of dirty laundry.

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