Again, with the Libraries

Library Challenges FBI Request
Patriot Act Prohibits Details of Lawsuit From Being Released

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 26, 2005; A11

A member of the American Library Association has sued the Justice Department to challenge an FBI demand for records, but the USA Patriot Act prohibits the plaintiff from publicly disclosing its identity or other details of the dispute, according to court documents released yesterday.

(...)

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said during Senate testimony in April that the Justice Department "has no interest in rummaging through the library records or medical records of Americans" but that "libraries should not become safe havens" for terrorists or other criminals.

Gonzales said at the time that the FBI had never asked for records under a provision of the Patriot Act known by critics as the "library provision," which allows the government to demand records from a range of businesses, including libraries, in intelligence probes.

But that provision is separate from the one that governs the kind of letter used in the Connecticut case. Justice and FBI officials have repeatedly declined to say how many times such letters have been served on any kind of institution, including libraries.

Full story here

Also, in case it might be of use: American Civil Liberties Union

Haircuts and Conspiracy

This morning, we rose at an unghodly hour -- that would be seven o'clock to the rest of the world -- slopped the cats, had some cereal and motored into the Great City of Waterville in order to get haircuts, and run various errands.

The errands, including a stop at the Children's Book Cellar to sign a book and chat with the ever-engaging Ellen Richmond, took a few hours, and we returned home positively light-headed, bearing camera batteries, a CD wallet, the mail from the post office box, and Max!'s thyroid medicine. There is still a trip to the grocery store in our future -- tomorrow, maybe. Also need to do laundry as part of Dragon*Con prep, which is now whining into high gear.

At some point today, as kinzel and I were talking about thisnthat, I mentioned that I was glad to have heard someone pronounce Daav yos'Phelium's name correctly (that would be this way: Dahv), because otherwise he would have to be a member of the Conspiracy of Daves. To which kinzel replied, "Oh, I think he is, anyway."

Be afraid.

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