Court Order

[Kyle Harriss]

Re: The thread about death threats and records of who had used specific
terminals to send the threats.  (I unfortunately already deleted the
messages in that thread.)

	1. I agree with the folks that said to contact the library's
	   attorney right away.

	2. I question whether the typical library-related privacy
	   laws apply here.  Several folks mentioned the existence
	   in some states of data-access privacy laws, which would
	   require a court order before a library provides any info
	   to a law enforcement agency about the use of library 
	   information by any particular patron.

	   My thought is that the records of who did or did not
	   sign on to a particular terminal in a library, and send
	   an email threat to the white house, *might* not have
	   anything to do with the (in my state) protected 
	   confidentiality of records which show which patron
	   has accessed which *information* via a public library.

	   If a log had existed of which patron was allowed to use 
	   a given terminal at a given time on a given day, that log
	   would probably *not* provide any indication of what info
	   that patron had read or downloaded.

	   Perhaps we could find someone in a telecommunciation
	   industry to tell us if information is protected that
	   shows who used their calling card at a specific payphone to
	   place an illegal call at a specific day at a specific time.
	   This seems to be the equivalent of what was reported.

--

Kyle Harriss				kharriss at d.umn.edu
Tech Services 				voice: 218-726-6546
UMD Library				fax:   218-726-8019
Duluth, MN  55812