should the governement be allowed to see what individuals take out of the library

[crackerjacker]

In a story on yahoo.com the government has decided to use the Patriot Act to allow the fbi to check the reading records of people suspected of terrorist related activity. hmmm. First all of this impedes on freedom of speech, which in turn, impedes on the rights of individuals. As such activity is allowed, this is the same thing that the riaa, mpaa, are trying to do us consumers in the file sharing community. Thus this is wrong.
the full story is here at this link.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=716&e=6&cid=514&u=/ap/20020625/ap_on_re_us/attacks_libraries_3

[PatientSaint]

No i don't think it should and how could u call this a "patriot act" when it takes away a god given right? this whole Terrorist stuff is going too far in my opinion. What makes a person a terrorist? Skin color? your job? What Site you visit? What all else could this be used for? The Fbi messed up once already this gives them more right to invade anyone's privacy. The problem is people will vote yes for it and watch quietly as our freedoms are slowly taken "for our own protection" who is to protect us from our Government? sure we give up some security but it coems at the price of personal freedom. I'd take freedom to be who i am, to livet he way i want to live, and speak for what i believe in ANYDAY over some suppossed added security.

[mrgone4662]

Originally posted by crackerjacker
...the government has decided to use the Patriot Act to allow the fbi to check the reading records of people suspected of terrorist related activity.

The FBI has always had the ability to check the records of criminal suspects. The recent abuse of the PATRIOT Act is that they can now forbid the librarian from telling anyone about it.

[crackerjacker]

I am not calling it a patriot act, the link on yahoo calls this law *a patriot act*. hmmm.

[mrgone4662]

It's not a patriot act, it's the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) enacted by the United Stated Congress on October 24th, 2001.

You can read it at http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/hr3162.html

[psychotronic420]

I don't care what you call it, eventually we will be left with very few if any civil rights, all in the name of National Security, I don't buy what their trying to sell, there is a reason why people around the world hate the U.S. government, all this didn't just spring up overnite, and until they start to address the reasons that we are hated it will never stop
Our gov has known about the threats to our society for a long time. There is a LOT of stuff the average american will never know about. that our gov is involved in. Remember Bush SR. was all in favor of the so called New World Order... ie globalization as they call it now, looks as though Bush JR is just taking up where Poppa Bush left off.

[Crazy Horse]

I'm not comfortable with any law that erodes my civil rights. We are between a rock and a hard place. Sometimes I wonder if we would have all these problems we were all allowed to own firearms. If we were just as crazy as these criminals and as heavily armed I think these guys would think twice.

[mrgone4662]

Originally posted by Crazy Horse
Sometimes I wonder if we would have all these problems we were all allowed to own firearms.

We are all allowed to own firearms, and in California you're not even required to register them.

[wessman]

Truthfully, I see no way to prevent the government from tracking everything you do. Wiretapping is illegal, but law enforcement can ask a judge for warrant to do so. Does that make sense? Not really.

My point is, there is no way to stop the government from monitoring who checks out what book from the public library, but I think criminal courts wouldn't allow such evidence without prior warrant.

:sw :sw :sw