Article published February 23, 2003
PATRIOT ACT
Libraries fear loss of privacy as FBI searches for terrorists
Margaret Danziger, Toledo-Lucas County library's deputy director, says libraries are careful to guard readers' privacy.
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THE BLADE/DIANE HIRES
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By DALE EMCH
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, librarians across America have been waging their own struggle against what they regard as an attack on sacred ground: government intrusion into their patrons' reading records.
Their target is the controversial USA Patriot Act, which librarians say gives the FBI too much power to seize book and computer records and chills intellectual freedom.
"We have always recognized that what a person reads and the Web site they visit are sacrosanct," said Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association's Washington office. "There is a direct link between free speech and what you're reading."
Congress passed the Patriot Act in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks that stunned the world. The broad powers granted to authorities seeking potential terrorists make it easier for investigators to watch someone's Internet activity, see what books they've read, tap phone lines, and seize other records - as long as there is suspicion the person is part of an international terrorist organization or is a spy.
But it is within public libraries, founded with the guidance of Benjamin Franklin, that the Patriot Act seems to be assailed most vehemently.
Librarians are concerned that a tradition of confidentiality will be trampled because of overzealousness by the government.
While a survey of some libraries in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan indicates that hasn't happened here, library officials said there is concern that it could.
Scott Shafer, director of the Lima Public Library, said the Patriot Act is a step in the wrong direction.
"We haven't had any inquiries here, but if we had I couldn't tell you. That's just a horrible situation to be in," he said. "It may seem necessary, but secret tribunals and the whole business, that isn't usually what this country does. That's what the countries who are creating terrorists tend to do.''
Although the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library destroys records of books that have been returned, Director Clyde Scoles said the FBI could seize information about materials that are still checked out from the system.
Mr. Scoles said the people who set up the library's computer system were surprised when they were told the library wanted a system that purges records rather than saves them. Most libraries have the same philosophy, he said, because they don't want people to limit their reading for fear that their book list will end up in the hands of the police.
"I think people wish to use the library for a variety of ways," Mr. Scoles said. "They may come in for medical information ... and I think they feel that what they're looking for is between them and the library."
Margaret Danziger, the Toledo-Lucas County Library's deputy director, said she remembers only one recent visit by federal authorities. The FBI came to investigate an e-mail message about President Bush that was sent from a library computer. There was no record of either the message or who sent it, and the search wasn't done under the Patriot Act, she said.
"I think librarians have been very careful to guard a person's privacy," she said.
Mark Corallo, a Department of Justice spokesman, emphasized that there is no effort by the government to gather information on "average Americans." He said targets of the Patriot Act are noncitizen members of terrorist organizations acting within the U.S. and citizens who are engaged in international terrorism.
He said librarians have been among the most vocal critics of the act, but he thinks their complaints are based on a faulty reading of the legislation.
Libraries have gotten some FBI attention, Mr. Corallo said, because it was discovered that some of the terrorists involved with the Sept. 11 attacks used computers in public libraries to communicate.
"It became clear that several of the terrorists were using libraries - especially the computers in libraries - to do research and communicate with their fellow terrorists abroad," he said.
"They were exploiting the freedoms that we all enjoy in order to murder us. We couldn't allow that."
In order to get any records under the act, Mr. Corallo said the Justice Department still must get approval for a warrant from a federal judge who is a member of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court.
It's not just the warrants that bother librarians. Ms. Sheketoff, of the American Library Association, said a provision of the law that prevents people from telling anyone if a warrant has been served makes it impossible for librarians to report how frequently records are being searched.
"The insidious thing is that we can't say what's happening around the country," Ms. Sheketoff said.
Mr. Corallo said preventing people from talking about warrants that have been served is standard practice that pre-dates the Patriot Act.
Librarians want to make sure they aren't cast as anti-American for their stances. Mr. Scoles said a balance must be struck between privacy and public safety.
Nonetheless, Nancy Kelley, director of the Way Public Library in Perrysburg, said she's troubled by the overall tone of the Patriot Act.
"If I overheard someone talking about poisoning the water system in Perrysburg, I'd feel it was my civic duty to report it," she said.
"But just finding out what sites they're reading on the Internet or books they're checking out is worrisome. That confidentiality has always been a cornerstone for us."
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