-------- Original Message -------- Subject: DHS cross refs interlibrary loan to INS database? Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 10:48:38 -0500 From: Stephen Cobb, CISSP <scobb@private> To: Declan McCullagh <declan@private> Declan, Unless there is more to the following story than was reported, I think the implications are more chilling than the headline-grabbing unapproved NSA taps, particularly since FISA approves virtually all taps anyway. We have known for years that the NSA has the capability to listen to any unscrambled phone call (foreign or domestic) and read any plaintext email--such as this one--but routine cross-referencing of library records with INS data would appear to be new. Can we now assume a computer somewhere is constantly running a watch list of books against a watch list of people (who spend 'a lot of time' outside the country)? If anyone manages to lift the lid on this, I'm sure the book list itself would make hilarious reading (who doesn't have a copy of The Little Red Book left over from the sixties?). The criteria for the frequent traveller database? Probably not so amusing. Agents' visit chills UMass Dartmouth senior By AARON NICODEMUS, Standard-Times staff writer NEW BEDFORD -- A senior at UMass Dartmouth was visited by federal agents two months ago, after he requested [through the interlibrary loan program] a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's tome on Communism called "The Little Red Book." ...The student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for Professor Pontbriand's class on fascism and totalitarianism...He was later visited at his parents' home in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security...was told by the agents that the book is on a "watch list," and that his background, which included significant time abroad, triggered them to investigate the student further." http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/12-05/12-17-05/a09lo650.htm Stephen Cobb, CISSP _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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