Lessons Learned, Now and Later Identity theft a growing problem, but for now freedom of speech and expression are still the most threatened of our constitutionally-protected rights. Protection of library patrons’ rights remain a constant battle when it comes to seizing computer records to solve crimes. Despite these warrant laws, libraries still receive hundreds of requests for records without proper authorization from authorities. New technologies—helpful but also cause for vulnerability Internet and computer technologies are making identity theft a much bigger threat than ever before, but most of the threats today are still against intellectual freedom and all rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, especially under the name of National Security and the PATRIOT act. Examples were given earlier about police demanding records they felt pertained to particular crimes, but in no case did the police serve warrants or subpoenas. Although these incidents have caused laws to be passed that require police to present librarians with proper paperwork before seizing records, there is conflict in most of us who understand that the extra time it takes to obtain proper paperwork can mean the difference between life and death in some of these cases. But ultimately, all library patrons must know their records are being kept private and confidential unless the police find probable cause. It’s not only on all the drama shows these days where we see detectives sometimes bullying a citizen into giving up federally-protected information without first being given a warrant or subpoena, librarians in the local King County area contend with constant requests on a monthly basis from law enforcement who are on fishing expeditions without proper paperwork allowing them to do so. Unfortunately, the recent extension of the USA PATRIOT Act makes fighting warrants and requests that are broad and non-specific much more difficult from a librarian’s standpoint. As libraries move along with new technologies, such as RFID, self-checkout, no user info on library cards, etc., they clearly are working to continue to preserve the privacy of patrons. But new technologies come along so quickly that they present threats to confidentiality and privacy to patron records that are sometimes difficult to identify or to fix.

Patron Privacy in the Future Know your policies! Talk with others in your library or at work, especially if a challenge arises for which you can’t find a resolution. Always be polite and take the situation seriously, especially when dealing with law enforcement. For your own edification, browse the Web for stories dealing with intellectual freedom and privacy, join organizations and associations, subscribe to newsletters. ALA EFF Pew Internet Family & Life Project Google Alerts Wherever you work, even if it’s not in a library, you need to know about your organization’s policies on privacy and confidentiality. Any reputable website has a link that states its privacy policy; sometimes you as a patron of that site need to know whether or not you have to opt-out of newsletters, for instance, or make sure to uncheck all the boxes that ask if you want to receive promotional products from that site when you register as a user. If you encounter a situation as a librarian and are uncertain of the privacy policy, ask for help from a colleague or manager. Don’t be defensive if law enforcement comes in asking for records without proper paperwork. Be polite and cooperative while you explain the policies. Better yet, consider having one person be the de-facto privacy/confidentiality expert. Keep yourself informed at all times. Subscribe to the ALA’s weekly American Libraries Direct; subscribe to The Effector, which is the newsletter from the Electronic Freedom Foundation, the Pew Internet web site, which does extensive research on the digital effects of media and web technologies on privacy and confidentiality (not to mention interesting research in just about everything Internet-related). I also keep up on daily stories I don’t otherwise have the time to search for by setting up different Google alerts for “libraries”, “intellectual freedom”, etc. In fact some of what I’ve garnered from the alerts have been excellent LIS 551 blog material. The biggest lesson we can all learn from our research is that we, as librarians and information professionals, must always keep ourselves apprised of new technologies and how they might possibly affect privacy and confidentiality. We can’t do our jobs unless we know what we’re up against, so it’s crucial for us to know how things are changing in our own industry and in the industries around us that might have an impact on our own work.