[Web4lib] Fwd: [CIRCPLUS] Student admits he lied about Mao bo ok

[Patricia F Anderson]

I read that, too, but never thought that would imply knowledge of the 
list, beyond the one book. I guess this is just one of those 
inconsistencies in the story that would tip someone off that it seemed a 
bit off. Good eye! -- Patricia

On Tue, 27 Dec 2005, Knuth, Pat MS IMA-Europe wrote:

> But the original story I read said the the agents arrived at the student's
> house with the book in hand.  Which implies that one of the libraries
> involved handed the book over.  Under those circumstances, I might have
> thought the reporter would ask a library about it.
>
> Pat
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
> [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Patricia F Anderson
> Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2005 4:00 PM
> To: web4lib at webjunction.org
> Cc: Patricia F Anderson
> Subject: RE: [Web4lib] Fwd: [CIRCPLUS] Student admits he lied about Mao bo
> ok
>
> On Tue, 27 Dec 2005, Knuth, Pat MS IMA-Europe wrote:
>
>> Maybe I missed seeing it, but I kept wondering why no one was
>> attempting to contact the library (or any library) to ask about this
>> supposed watch list of books.
>
> How would the library know? That is what made the story so plausible. The
> backbone of the Internet was ARPANET, owned by US military. It does not seem
> improbable that there might be ways for various units of the US government
> to observe aspects of Internet traffic that attract their attention. With
> ILL processes so dependent on the Internet these days, what was described
> may be possible, whether or not it has actually ever happened.
>
> Asking a library about how their internal processes were observed by an
> outside agency would be like asking a celebrity (or anyone) how they allowed
> a stalker to follow them. How do you know you are being observed, until
> contact is made?
>
> What seemed unlikely to me would be that the FBI would place a
> (hypothetical) methodology like this at risk by contact, and then reveal
> their source. I am sure that if the FBI was watching ILL traffic via the
> Internet, they would find some other plausible reason to give for contacting
> an individual of interest, or simple decline to provide a reason.
>
> A very interesting story and unveiling. Thought provoking, in any case.
>
> -- Patricia Anderson, pfa at umich.edu
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