[Web4lib] wireless and Patriot Act

[Phillip Whitford]

I think it's going to depend on how your network is set up. Here, all
traffic, wireless or wired, runs through our firewall to get to the
Internet. And there is a wired connection from the wi-fi access points
and portal through some of our switches to the firewall. So in our case
the wi-fi traffic would be subject to the same potential scrutiny
(Patriot Act, CIPIA, library polices, local police searches, etc.) as
any other computer traffic on our network. 

However, access to files on the patron's personally owned computer would
be treated differently than files on a library owned computer.
 
The "I'm no lawyer" disclaimer applies.


Phillip B. Whitford
Manager Information Technology
Braswell Memorial Library
Rocky Mount, NC 27804
Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of my organization. 
-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Tana Elias
Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 12:35 PM
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Cc: cwagner at scls.lib.wi.us
Subject: [Web4lib] wireless and Patriot Act


Hi,

I've recently been asked a question I don't know the answer to.  It is:
A 
patron wants to know if he used our wireless on our internet, would his 
computer then be subject to the same scrutiny under the Patriot Act as
our 
library machines are?
To expand this, can wireless interactions be tracked the same as
in-library 
interactions?

Have any of you had to answer this question, or dealt with this issue in

your library?  Any ideas, articles, etc. would be helpful.  I couldn't
find 
much specifically on this issue.

Thanks in advance,
Tana Elias




Tana Elias, Web Librarian
Madison Public Library
201 W. Mifflin St.
Madison, WI  53703
http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org
telias at scls.lib.wi.us
608-266-4953 

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