Should the PATRIOT Act infringe on people’s freedom of speech?

Case Study: Criminal Justice

USA PATRIOT Act and Academic Freedom (1)

A senior at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, was visited at his parent’s home by federal agents after he requested a copy of The Little Red Book, Mao Tse-Tung’s book on communism. The student who requested the book through the university library’s inter-library loan was doing a research paper on communism for a class on totalitarianism and fascism. The two agents who came to his home said the book was on a “watch list” and that the student’s background, which included “significant time abroad,” prompted them to investigate.

His professor told reporters that he suspected that there is a lot more monitoring of student and faculty activities by federal agents than most people realize. The professor also reconsidered a class that he was going to teach on terrorism because he feared it might put the students at risk. “I shudder to think of all the students I’ve had monitoring al-Qaeda websites, what the government must think of that,” he said. “Mao Tse-Tung is completely harmless.”

The USA PATRIOT Act overrides library confidentiality laws. The Department of Homeland Security has the authority to monitor college students’ and professors’ library borrowing records, Internet records, and e-mails, as well as international travel and phone calls. In addition, librarians are bound by a gag order. Once records are requested, librarians are not allowed to tell the person who is under investigation.

Several libraries have protested the PATRIOT Act. Librarians in Santa Cruz, California, for example, are shredding library records daily. Libraries in some other states are posting warning signs and passing out leaflets. The American Library Association passed a resolution calling sections of the PATRIOT Act a danger to constitutional rights.

Question: Should the PATRIOT Act infringe on people’s freedom of speech?