alt Hacker NewsI remember when it first became widely known that the government could see your library checkouts. People protested. It was a big deal in my tiny town.
I don't even think it would be even a blip on the radar now.
It really is depressing how much ground we've given.
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Can you clarify what you mean?
My local library is run by the county government, so of course the government can see the checkouts, they are the ones I check the book out from. But they restrict checkout information from others. For example, a parent can see the checkouts of their own children, but not after they turn 13.
Perhaps you're talking about subpoenas? Checking some other libraries I see SF Public Library has some discussion about that, but they delete books from your checkout history once they are returned. https://sfpl.org/about-us/confidentiality-and-usa-patriot-ac...
USA PATRIOT Act, early 2000s?
I was just talking about this the other day. This all happened right after 9/11(nevr 4get) and people were fucking PISSED that the patriot act wanted to look at people's library histories. It was a HUGE deal where I lived. Now? Nobody gives a shit and people will trade away their valuable privacy for an IQ test.