Read any good books lately? - watch out for the Section 215

[Larissa]

The Los Angeles Times (March 2, 2003) reports that buried in the 340 pages of fine print that is the USA Patriot Act is Section 215. That provision allows FBI agents to demand from any bookstore or public library its records of the books or tapes a customer has bought or borrowed. The repugnant assumption underlying Section 215 is that we are what we read, that someone
who buys a biography of Osama bin Laden is suspect. The law bars booksellers and librarians from disclosing to anyone - their customers or Congress - that
investigators came knocking.

[Pete]

It is time to get as many people as possilbe to buy as many of these 'suspect' books as possilbe so that we wear down the fucking spies.

[mentalbunny]

The US is a joke, that's all I can say, except it makes me want to cry more than laugh.

You know the US embassy refused to follow up this long-haul lorry drivers claims that he knew where an Iraqi weapons thingy (can't remember what exactly) was, cos he drove back and forth to Bhagdad and had seen them biuld it then cover it up with sand. Can you bleive it? They totally ingored him, so wither they already knew about it or didn't want to know, how strange!

[Larissa]

more of the same...

In the old days, government lawyers had to have "probable cause" to suspect an individual was engaged in criminal activity. Under Section 215, they need only say that searching records is "relevant" to an investigation, even if the government has no reason to suspect that an individual has committed a crime, much less a terrorist act. Section 215 of the Patriot Act (the most unpatriotic act in America's history) contains a gag provision barring bookstores or libraries from telling anyone, including the suspect, about the government snooping: "No person shall disclose to any other person
(other than those persons necessary to produce the tangible things under this section) that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has sought or obtained tangible things under this section." Violators of the gag order
can go to jail. Now, how are you supposed to obtain legal counsel if you don't know you are being investigated? On June 12, 2002, the House Judiciary Committee sent a 12-page letter to the Justice Department asking for information on the number of subpoenas issued to booksellers and libraries since last October. On August 19, Assistant Attorney General Daniel J. Bryant answered that figures were "confidential," and would only be shared with the House Intelligence Committee.

The Patriot Act is indeed vague about bookstores and libraries, but that they are targets is clear: "The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or a designee of the Director (whose rank shall be no lower than Assistant Special Agent in Charge) may make an application for an order requiring the production of any tangible things (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items) for an investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such investigation of a United States person is not conducted solely
upon the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution."

[mentalbunny]

Thanks for the valuable info, Larissa, do you knwo if there is any such act in the UK?

[Larissa]

No, honestly I don't know.

[Pete]

:( I feel bad inside now.

[Hampton]

Makes me feel all dirty

[Rastafari]

hmm...lets see. I'll get
-a sourcebook on hacking
-a linux manual
-some good reading (the dangerous political stuff they will no doubt look for)
-some gun books or something
boy, my backwards librarians will look at me all different now!
so many choices though

[knowledge]

Another case of blowing well known facts out of proportion.

[Lefty]

I have a solution: stop reading!

Oh wait...

[praxis1966]

Fucking Washington pigs... I'm sure I'm on their shit list.

[CubanFox]

It is times like this I am glad I am out of Washington's reach here in Australia. I intend to get even further away by moving to NZ, a place most people think is near Canada! ;)

[praxis1966]

It isn't?? (jk)

[smoer]

i'm reading the african dream forom che guevara

[Cobber]

Well I guess if I was living in the USA I'd be a prime suspect with my collection [Lenin, Castro, Stalin, Trotsky, Guevara, Ho Chi Min, Mao, bin Laden, Hitler, Mussolini...], but maybe the bio of Elvis might save me.