Thursday, June 16, 2005

Patriot-ic

House votes to remove access to library and bookstore reading lists from Patriot Act

If you've read some of my political/news type posts on here before--especially those pertaining to the War on Terror™, you may be surprised to learn that I'm giving this move a big ol' thumbs up. I may be a registered Republican who not only voted for Bush but volunteered on his campaign last fall, but when it comes to personal and social liberties, I break from the party line about as often as I follow it.

On the whole, I support the Patriot Act. I support anything that helps keep me safe from being blown up by someone who hates me because I live in a free country. But in this case, there really is such a thing as a slippery slope. I like to read, and I read a lot. I read books about politics, and history, and war (and of those books cover all three). But even more than that, I read mysteries and thrillers--books about mad bombers and slashers, brutal murders committed by out-and-out psychopaths. Should I end up on a watch list?

And it's not like this change to the Act leaves the authorities resourceless. The Patriot Act gives broad, sweeping provisions for searches, seizures, wiretaps, computer taps, and surveillance in just about every shape and form. There's plenty of ways there for the authorities to monitor people who are actually doing naughty things, not just reading something that's not on the Approved List.

I'm not a lawyer, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see anything in the language of the revised Patriot Act that keeps libraries and bookstores from turning over this information voluntarily if they see something amiss, or if the government requests it. Our laws keep the government from forcing people from turning over information they don't want to--it doesn't keep people from telling the government anything they want to. (The exception, of course, being certain professions where confidentiality is part of the job, such as doctors and lawyers. Somehow, I don't think a clerk at Borders or a librarian qualifies.)

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