Writers, librarians, booksellers seek amendment to protect privacy of book

[Judi Lynn]

Writers, librarians, booksellers seek amendment to protect privacy of book buyers, borrowers

MARK BRYANT, Associated Press Writer
Friday, February 27, 2004


(02-27) 00:43 PST SEATTLE (AP) --

Booksellers, librarians and writers want Congress to amend a section of the USA Patriot Act to protect people's privacy when it comes to books they buy or check out from the library.

"To our knowledge, there is not a single association, organization or company in our entire industry that supports Section 215 as it exists today," said Phillip Bevis, founder of Arundel Books, which has stores in Seattle and Los Angeles and sells books online.

Section 215 does not specifically mention bookstores or libraries, but permits secret warrants for "books, records, papers, documents and other items" from businesses, hospitals or other organizations.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/02/27/national0343EST0452.DTL

[hang a left]

1. The Patriot Act as a whole is very disturbing to say the least.

This particular clause is probably the one that bothers me the most. Why in the hell do they want to know what you are reading? Think about that. That would mean they (whoever "they" are) could decipher what knowledge you may have. Perhaps they might find it necessary to locate those individuals, if they deem it necessary, and round them up, in case of martial law. They could decide that certain people might cause problems and find it necessary to remove them from the general population. I wonder which books are on their lists. I wish that I knew. If we knew, then we might figure out which of the popular conspiracy theories they are most afraid of.

Don't mind me I don foil for every occasion.

[Trillo]

2. What to title it?

It's interesting that the last paragraph mentions that cash transactions are up. They've made the computer mighty easy to use to purchase just about anything from anywhere; except where prohibited, of course: like Mexican pharmaceuticals after 9/11 which were perfectly legal to import for personal use prior to that date..

A currency crisis would be an opportune time to "delete" a paper currency and institute a new virtual currency, something designed exclusively for electronic transfer. No more "black market."

Wasn't there something a few years back about surveillance software installed on everyone's computers, and recently there was a report on third-party clock-cycle usage of your personal computer? Could these be "secret warrants" that are "barred" from being disclosed, and several other things the story mentions such as "papers and effects," and "what you are reading?"

Even if these potential capabilities to know what a person is actually buying at the moment they buy it is largely harmless for most people, it would surely be a focuser of greed for some. Just imagine, someone could know which book titles are selling best in real time. Who would that information be valuable to, and what would they be willing to pay for it?

Taking a slightly different tack, could all purchases by everyone everywhere be reconciled and audited automatically in a virtual currency world?