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Wednesday, September 17, 2003 |
Ashcroft Mocks Librarians and Others Who Oppose Parts of Counterterrorism Law (Note: I can't even decide what to bold for emphasis because the whole thing is one giant foot in his mouth that would be funny if it wasn't so terrifying coming from the Attorney General of the United States.) "Attorney General John Ashcroft today accused the country's biggest library association and other critics of fueling "baseless hysteria" about the government's ability to pry into the public's reading habits. In an unusually pointed attack as part of his latest speech in defense of the Bush administration's counterterrorism initiatives, Mr. Ashcroft mocked and condemned the American Library Association and other Justice Department critics for believing that the F.B.I. wants to know 'how far you have gotten on the latest Tom Clancy novel.' The association, which has argued for months that the government's new antiterrorism powers risk encroaching on the privacy of library users, took some satisfaction from the broadside.... Mark Corallo, a spokesman for the department, said the speech was intended not as an attack on librarians, but on groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and politicians who he said had persuaded librarians to mistrust the government. The American Librarian Association "has been somewhat duped by those who are ideologically opposed to the Patriot Act," Mr. Corallo said. Mr. Ashcroft's remarks, he said, 'should be seen as a jab at those who would mislead librarians and the general public into believing the absurd, that the F.B.I. is running around monitoring libraries instead of going after terrorists....' Mr. Ashcroft said critics had tried to persuade the public that the F.B.I. was monitoring libraries to "ask every person exiting the library, `Why were you at the library? What were you reading? Did you see anything suspicious?'" The Justice Department, Mr. Ashcroft said, 'has no interest in your reading habits. Tracking reading habits would betray our high regard for the First Amendment. And even if someone in government wanted to do so, it would represent an impossible workload and a waste of law enforcement resources' " [New York Times]
Ashcroft Bars the Doors to Democracy [Editorial] "But while Ashcroft was telling Boston police how the government was using its powers under the Patriot Act, he didn't mention a January 2003 report from the General Accounting Office that revealed that three-quarters of the 'international terrorism convictions' for 2002 had been wrongly classified as terrorist crimes. They were, instead, routine immigration violations. Nor did he mention a March 2, 2003, Washington Post report that out of 62 cases of 'international terrorism' that New Jersey prosecutors claimed to have handled, all but two involved Middle Eastern men who were accused of paying other people to take their English exams and who were not linked to terrorism in any way. He may have repeated the claim, first made in a May 13, 2003, Justice Department report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committee, that FBI agents have contacted only 50 libraries nationwide to obtain records of library patrons, and then mostly in response to requests from librarians who saw something suspicious. But in testimony given to the House Subcommittee on the Constitution on May 20, 2003, then-Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh stated that 'Most, if not all of these contacts that we have identified were made in the context of a criminal investigation.' In other words, the number "50" referred to criminal -- not national security -- investigations of libraries." [Boston Globe]
Update: ALA explains exactly why librarians don't take Mr. Ashcroft at his word. "Librarians are committed to ensuring the highest quality library service and protection of our patrons’ records from random searches, fishing expeditions or other inappropriate invasions of privacy. This commitment is why we are among the most trusted members of our communities, from Maine to California. We take great pains to be educated about the federal and state laws that govern our ability to serve our communities – which is why we’re so concerned.... And now Attorney General John Ashcroft says the FBI has no interest in Americans’ reading records. While this may be true, librarians have a history with law enforcement dating back to the McCarthy era that gives us pause. For decades, and as late as the 1980s, the FBI’s Library Awareness Program sought information on the reading habits of people from 'hostile foreign countries,' as well as U.S. citizens who held unpopular political views. We are deeply concerned that the Attorney General should be so openly contemptuous of those who seek to defend our Constitution. Rather than ask the nations’ librarians and Americans nationwide to 'just trust him,' Ashcroft could allay concerns by releasing aggregate information about the number of libraries visited using the expanded powers created by the USA PATRIOT Act. Or, better yet, federal elected officials could vote – as several U.S. senators and representatives from across the political spectrum have proposed – to restore the historical protection of library records."
[The Shifted Librarian]
4:41:31 PM 
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Jay Rosen's posted a brilliant piece on the role of the "master narrative" in political reporting. That's a term borrowed from the Post Modernists and Rosen uses it to point out that the common themes of political reporting are social constructs, not natural. Politics gets reported as a horse race not because candidates are horses in a race but because that's the narrative form we've created and accepted. As Jay says in another piece, " Journalism schools don't teach this, but it's nonetheless true: Facts can't tell you how they want to be framed." (He should know; he's chair of journalism studies at NYU.)
This is George Lakoff territory and it needs to be more fully explored.
There's no escaping narratives, a mortal blow to objectivity's dream of hegemony. Narratives area how we understand, not an obstacle to understanding. But it's important to remember that events can be incorporated into many different narratives. (My Inner PoMo wants to blurt out that events are not atoms independent of the narratives that take them up.) And, it would be useful to cast politics into alternative master narratives.
For example, maybe the elections of 2004 could be reported not as a horse race but as a conversation. Or as a form of co-evolution. Or as the way in which a community forms its will. Or as how a nation makes up its mind. Or as the story of how many-ness becomes one.
Unfortunately, we have only a little control over which narratives master us. But it'd be worth trying...
Jay has just posted a piece on how you "cover" 133 candidates for governor that touches on some of the same issues. [Joho the Blog]
4:33:35 PM
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Follow up to a story from the 16th.
If you wrote to Jet Blue yesterday to express your disappointment with the airline's unpatriotic cooperation with the Feds in piloting the CAPPS II spyware initiative, you probably got an official denial telling you that "No JetBlue customer information has been shared with the US Government with respect to testing the CAPPS II program currently under design."
Bill Scannell, the guy who outed both Delta and Jet Blue for particpating in CAPPS II, has the smoking gun on this -- a document showing that:
In September of 2002, JetBlue Airways secretly gave the Transportation Security Administration the full travel records of 5 million JetBlue customers. This sensitive travel data was then turned-over to a private security contractor for analysis, the results of which were presented at a security conference earlier this year and then posted on the Internet.
Check out the damning link for more -- the Jet Blue statement is technically correct, but only because of weasel-words inserted to elide the fact that they are enthusiastic collaborators with those who would undermine the Constitution to "fight terrorism."
Link [Boing Boing]
4:09:36 PM
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Protect Your Right to Privacy - Help ALA Keep Big Brother Out of Your Library! [Privacy Digest]
12:39:04 PM
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The old adage of, "out of site out of mind" comes to the forefront here. I even work with some of these people, and so do you!
"Besieged leaders see an effect, but not what is causing it." -Carter Pate and Harlan Platt, Authors [Fast Company]
12:29:57 PM
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Do we need to rally the troops again as we did a few months ago regarding Starbucks?
I don't know if this report on Photo.net is for real, but it has the definite ring of reality. (I... [Dan Gillmor's eJournal]
12:21:58 PM
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The company is off my shit list for the moment. They finally did come through and give us a month of service credit for the problems we've been having. Now we need to keep at them to make sure they've sent the replacement phone we were promised.
Sprint PCS opens network to Wayport locations, one of its own spots: In a press release startling for its clarity and frankness about who owns what and what's ready now, Sprint PCS announced that its ready to offer service reselling access to Wayport locations (roughly 550 nationwide) and one of its own. It will resell Cometa access later this year, and they're still stating 2,100 hot spots as their goal between their own and resold locations. You must download a special client to use their service. And you sign up here. No monthly pricing was announced. A 24-hour session costs $9.95 with a discount of $3.00 to $6.95 until Dec. 31, 2003. Because Sprint PCS has a built-in audience and they have the software ready to go, this should be the first real test -- since T-Mobile doesn't yet have their client -- of how a cellular company can convince customers through CD-ROM mailings, I expect, to install special software and tack on charges on their bill. The real test will be when they set a monthly rate for subscribers. Will it be like AT&T Wireless's improbably high "unlimited" $70 per month (which is limited to 150 sessions)? Or T-Mobile's $20 per month for true unlimited access with no roaming -- yet?... [802.11b Networking News]
12:16:45 PM
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"Hey, Denver Downtown Partnership are you listening, reading or otherwise paying attention?
Portland will beef up Wi-Fi even more: Already known for being one of the most Wi-Fi friendly cities around, Portland's city government is really working to cement that distinction. The Portland Telecommunications Steering Committee is trying to make it as easy as possible for companies to deploy Wi-Fi in the city. It plans to offer the rooftops of city buildings to Wi-Fi operators that want to place their antennas there. In exchange, the operators must offer some tier of service to citizens for free. While Seattle city leaders aren't nearly cool enough to come up with a plan like this, it looks like there may be a bit of competition among these two Pacific Northwest towns. An Intel survey found Portland to be the most unwired city in March but recently when Cometa announced a deal in Seattle it clamed that Seattle would have the most hotspots. Let the games begin… [via Nigel Ballard]... [802.11b Networking News]
11:59:37 AM
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Bravo Brent. Keep up the good work.
This beta fixes a few bugs, including a user interface glitch when marking multiple items as read. See the change notes for details. [Ranchero]
11:42:21 AM
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Ok, I can see the initial point, less clutter on your desktop. Now, who is going to be sitting 30 feet away and working on a 15 or 17 inch monitor? Anyone...anyone?
Apple today introduced the Apple Wireless Keyboard and Apple Wireless Mouse, new Bluetooth-based peripherals that provide reliable performance at up to 30 feet and offer secure 128-bit, over-the-air encryption keeping sensitive information safe as it is being typed. Apple is the first to deliver Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH) software which eliminates interference between Bluetooth devices and other wireless networks and devices. This feature enables the Apple Wireless Keyboard and Mouse to perform reliably in home, office, school and lab settings where other wireless devices and networks may be in use.
Like Pixels? Check out MacDesign [MacMerc]
11:33:41 AM
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Finally a day off. Having slept only about 4 hours I don't feel too bad and will probably crash this afternoon for a while. Then some time this evening or tomorrow evening I'm suppose to attend a "Parent Teacher" conference for our 14 year old. Now of course the school neglected to send anything home about the conference and what is going to be discussed or where we're suppose to show up, who his teachers are etc. O'well, we'll wing it.
11:26:59 AM
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© Copyright 2003 Paul W. Swansen.
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