Watching the Detectives

That left-wing rag The Washington Times headlines a story thus:

Librarians dispute Justice's claim on use of Patriot Act

Audrey Hudson reports:

…the [Justice] department said the Patriot Act has been used "zero" times for investigative purposes.

Former Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh told the House Judiciary Committee in May that libraries had been contacted approximately 50 times in 2002 using the Patriot Act. Mr. Dinh, the chief architect of the Patriot Act, resigned one week before that testimony and put the number of libraries contacted at "fewer than 50."

The Library Research Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign conducted a poll last year of more than 1,500 libraries. Sixty libraries said that federal agents had requested information on patrons under the Patriot Act, and nearly 15 percent of the librarians said they turned the information over without demanding a court order.

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