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Public libraries, who provided patron email addresses (supposedly collected to send overdue and renewal notices, etc.) to municipality "newsletter" spam lists.
by musicale 5y ago
Public libraries, who provided patron email addresses (supposedly collected to send overdue and renewal notices, etc.) to municipality "newsletter" spam lists.
I assume they'd also happily hand over a list of all the books you've checked out and whether any of them were overdue.
- twright0 5y agoI don't disagree that some library systems are pretty tech illiterate and might share email addresses without understanding the consequences. However, I feel the need to assert my opinion that librarians are generally pretty fierce defenders of privacy in the specific context of lending/reading history, so your assumption does not ring true at all to me. Libraries/librarians have been consistent defenders of lending history privacy in the face of the Patriot Act[1][2] and I would be shocked to see a pattern of libraries anywhere in the US giving out lending history data in the context of anything but the most direct of legal requirements. I was employed by a public library once upon a time and received specific training on when to share lending data ("never, and if asked, lock the computer and go get the Director, even if the person asking has a badge"). [1] https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/librarians-speak-out-first-time-after-being-gagged-patriot-act https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/librarians-speak-out-fir... [2] https://sfpl.org/about-us/confidentiality-and-usa-patriot-act https://sfpl.org/about-us/confidentiality-and-usa-patriot-ac...