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BmDNews todays topic:->'The Juice': Is the FBI bugging you?<-
Nov. 6, 2002 / 11:32 a.m. ET Is the FBI bugging you? Now that the mid-term election has guaranteed the Bush administration’s legislative power with a takeover of the Senate and continued control of the House, can we expect more snooping into our reading habits from U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft’s Justice Department? The last time I brought up the issue, (see The feds peering over your shoulder), some readers wondered whether I was paranoid or just plain dumb. My staff of thousands is both, I assured them, but that doesn’t deter me from pointing out the righteousness of my concern. If you don’t believe I’m sane and realistic, then you should read the Bill Olds column of Nov. 3 in the Hartford Courant, titled “The FBI Has Bugged Our Public Libraries.” He writes: “I have uncovered information that persuades me that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has bugged the computers at the Hartford Public Library. And it’s probable that other libraries around the state have also been bugged.” Olds says he can’t reveal how he obtained his information. A federal gag order makes it a crime for anyone who knows about the snooping to discuss it with anyone else. But, Olds says, “the FBI system apparently involves the installation of special software on the computers that lets the FBI copy a person’s use of the Internet and their e-mail messages.” Library users are not told that the government is snooping on them. Even the circulation lists indicating which books people borrow are open to the feds. The FBI’s justification for all this is to catch terrorists, and it’s allowed by the Patriot Act. But, Olds writes, “That’s not how it works.” The government “can check on everyone who uses the bugged computers. The rules allow this kind of surveillance even if someone is not suspected of being a terrorist or under any kind of suspicion.” Now for anyone who thinks I’m trying to demonize the attorney general, oh please. Ashcroft is doing nothing that others haven’t done before him. You remember J. Edgar Hoover, nyet? In the bad old days of the Cold War, Hoover was FBI snooper in chief, and he was always going after U.S. citizens he deemed threats to national security. Here’s a little reminder from the Boston Globe, “Irving Howe’s Excellent FBI Adventure.” You remember Howe, no? He was a dangerous literary critic.