1) No place to hide site: http://www.noplacetohide.net/
2) TIA and data mining http://www.epic.org/privacy/profiling/tia/
3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS8ywG5M_NQ
The No Place To Hide info is seriously creepy. On the one hand, I want to laugh because if any has to watch me that closely, they're likely to be bored to death by my decidedly unspectacular life. On the other hand, it's horrifying to see how easy it is to watch an ordinary citizen's every move. It's like after 9-11, the government turned into a giant paranoid voyeur pervert that watches people just because it can. And that's pretty sad. Surely they have more important things to do. I'm glad that libraries try to respect the privacy of patrons in spite of this type of watchful environment. Libraries aren't perfect, but where I've worked in the past, they really try to protect their patrons in what small ways they can.
I too am proud that libraries protect the privacy of patrons. And I'm glad to hear that your experience has proven this to be the case. Isn't it daunting to think, though, that you might be in a situation where you have to stand up to an FBI agent someday who wants information about one of your patrons??? I mean, that's where "grace under pressure" comes in! I really wonder what I'd do. Of course I'd hope that I'd put my job on the line for the patron's privacy, but none of us really knows what we'd do until we're in that situation. Very sobering. . . .
ReplyDeleteYou say if any one watched you closely, they'd be bored to death- but I think it's possible, just like that woman whose name was close to John Thomas, that you could start having a very exciting life, unfortunately, just because your name is similar to someone else's.
ReplyDeleteI agree, there must be a better use of resources. I think there is just so much information that it's impossible to detect real threats, which are generally few and far between in the grand scheme of things. There are what, a few close calls each year? Of course, we probably don't hear about the ones that get nipped in the bud before they get to far ... I wish I had that data.
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