In Vermont, Children's Librarian Judith Flint, held off the police who came in demanding to seize the computers in the children's area.
Flint demanded a search warrant, touching off a confrontation that pitted the privacy rights of library patrons against the rights of police on official business.
"It's one of the most difficult situations a library can face," said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, deputy director of intellectual freedom issues for the American Library Association.
Investigators did obtain a warrant about eight hours later, but the June 26 standoff in the 105-year-old, red brick library on Main Street frustrated police and had fellow librarians cheering Flint..... A new Vermont law that requires libraries to demand court orders in such situations took effect July 1, but it wasn't in place that June day. The library's policy was to require one.
Jessamyn West has blogged more on the incident and some of the ramifications. Amy Grasmick, Library Director of the Kimball Library, has added an eloquent post along with sound guidelines for libraries on how to handle such an incident.
The American Library Association has provided quite a bit of information about handling inquiries from law enforcement and includes a comprehensive collection of suggested policies for dealing with privacy issues in the library.
Ryan Singel has post on the Wired Blog about the third strike against COPA (Child Online Protection Act) as the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld on Tuesday a 2007 lower-court decision that the act was unconstitutional. Interesting reading in the comments section follows
