WARNING: The government knows all about your little Harry Potter fetish

Just another infuriating example of how our government is taking things too far by enacting the so-called Patriot Act. (Remember when words like patriot, freedom, and democracy didn't make you cringe?) The American Library Association spent $300,000 on a study to examine a question that was central to a House vote last week on the USA Patriot Act, how frequently federal, state and local agents are demanding records from libraries. The Bush administration says that while it is important for law enforcement officials to get information from libraries if needed in terrorism investigations, officials have yet to actually use their power under the Patriot Act to demand records from libraries or bookstores.

The study uncovered that law enforcement officials have made at least 200 formal and informal inquiries to libraries for information on reading material and other internal matters since October 2001, like lists of users checking out a book on Osama bin Laden. I guess if your writing a H.S. paper on the modern history of the Middle East, you best be careful what kind of books you check out lest you end up on some watch list.

"What this says to us," said Emily Sheketoff, the executive director of the library association's Washington office, "is that agents are coming to libraries and they are asking for information at a level that is significant, and the findings are completely contrary to what the Justice Department has been trying to convince the public."

"A fishing expedition like this just seems so un-American to me," Ms. Airoldi said. "The question is, how many basic liberties are we willing to give up in the war on terrorism, and who are the real victims?"

The survey also found what library association officials described as a "chilling effect" caused by public concerns about the government's powers. Nearly 40 percent of the libraries responding reported that users had asked about changes in practices related to the Patriot Act, and about 5 percent said they had altered their professional activities over the issues; for instance, by reviewing the types of books they bought... "What this demonstrates is that there is widespread concern among the American people about the government having the power to monitor what they are reading," Mr. Sanders said.

But I offer some hope from this Orwellian future. Last week the House of Representatives, offered by Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), adopted the "Freedom to Read" proposal, which denies funding for FBI access to library and bookstore records under section 215 of the Patriot Act. A bipartisan majority (238-187) approved the measure as an amendment to a Department of Justice funding measure.