Uncle Sam looks on

By Ændrew Rininsland

Rapidly pushed through US Congress in the wake of the September 11 attacks, the USA PATRIOT Act has been an issue of contention for civil rights activists and researchers south of the border. However, University of Calgary Zoology professor Dr. Michael Cavey and Serials Librarian Andrew Waller believe students should be aware of how the act affects their privacy right here in Canada.

“This is a personal issue,” said Walker. “It’s an issue not only when you access the library with your computer, but when you do anything else with your computer as well. We’re concerned only about the PATRIOT Act because you can be surveilled unknowingly, depending upon the information you are leaving behind through use of your computer.”

The USA PATRIOT Act, short for the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001, allows law enforcement to more easily access personal records without any public disclosure, meaning Canadians’ private information may be collected if it is stored in American databases.

The issue garnered national attention in 2003 when New Democratic Party MP Bill Blaikie questioned Statistics Canada’s decision to use Lockheed Martin to process the 2004 Census data. A large-scale letter writing campaign ensued, causing StatsCan to eventually drop the American company’s involvement. According to Waller, the act still presents a threat and is relevant to University of Calgary students as many websites, along with the majority of online research databases, are physically located in the US.

“There’s plenty of opportunity for students, through regular academic activities, to have information kept on servers in the United States, susceptible to seizure under the PATRIOT Act,” said Waller. Waller also noted how the U of C library is taking steps to combat this potential threat by testing a new system called the Scholar’s Portal in which databases are accessed from servers physically located in Canada and thus outside US jurisdiction.

Waller and Cavey have been studying security decisions in the States and how they affect library services. Also of concern is how the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control decides how information is shared between Canadian researchers and academics in the countries embargoed by the US–Cuba, Iran and Sudan. Due to OFAC restrictions, some journal publishers such as the American Medical Association and the Society of Photo-Optical Engineers have inserted clauses in their licences forbidding U of C students and researchers living in those countries from accessing their material. Someone accessing AMA or SPIE content from embargoed countries via the U of C library could cost the entire campus access to the content in question.

As frustrating as it may be, Cavey and Waller agree the best approach is to be aware of policy decisions and how they can affect the university.

“We’re looking at education rather than regulation because we feel it’s important that these decisions remain with the individual,” said Cavey. “The individual, however, must be educated so that they realize the areas where they could potentially harm the operations of the university in their day-to-day activities. It’s a relatively simple set of rules if you realize where the information you’re accessing is actually coming from, and you can do quite a bit to safeguard your personal information as well as protect the university and its licensing endeavours.”