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03/03/2004
Stand up for reader privacy. Booksellers, publishers, librarians and writers have joined together to gather one million signatures in support of legislation to revoke the FBI’s authority — under section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act — to conduct secret searches of bookstores and library records. Under the law — hastily passed in the fear tsunami that followed the 9/11 tragedy — “the FBI may request the records secretly; it is not required to prove that there is ‘probable cause’ to believe the person whose records are being sought has committed a crime; and the bookseller or librarian who receives an order is prohibited from revealing it to anyone except those whose help is needed to produce the records,” according to the Campaign for Reader Privacy. Sign the petition, learn more and contact your congress members at readerprivacy.com.
Be informed: Read the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Analysis of The Provisions of the USA PATRIOT ACT That Relate to Online Activities.
Replies: [2 comments]
In 1980s the Germans has a system called 'Beruf Verbode' - Profession Vetting - which was a point system - if you got 10 points you were not eligible to work for the government - national or local.
In Germany this is very serious as the public sector is very much bigger than in northern America. The nasty thing was that you were not told you were ineligible so someone who may have had a year or two of being radical during their student days would keep applying and even being interviewed for say a teaching job and was never successful.
Going back to the topic the state of Bavaria checked university libraries and would give you points for taking out the wrong books. So anyone studying social science automically notched up a few points. So if you were researching Marxism or Fascism you could be in trouble.
This system was effectively destroyed by left wing groups setting up fake organisations and magazines such as the 'Marxist Anarchist Movement to Overthrow the State'. Most of the membership would be people who knew they would be on the 'beruf verbode' list but included the sons and daughters of top businessmen and politicians on the membership and subscription lists.
Soon the whole system collasped. Who says the Germans do not have a sense of humour.
The nasty thing was that you were not told you were ineligible so someone who may have had a year or two of being radical during their student days would keep applying and even being interviewed for say a teaching job and was never successful.