Libraries and Privacy II

I’ve been following an interesting item in the news over the past few weeks.  A small public library in Lebanon, New Hampshire has decided to become the first library in the United States to run a TOR server.

The TOR browser was designed to assure user anonymity while on the Internet.  It was developed to protect users (according to Tor's website) from “traffic analysis, a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security.”  TOR is used extensively by journalists, human rights’ groups and citizen activists.  It is also used by criminals, like the peddlers of child pornography.

The TOR browser “protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location.” In order to work, TOR needs organizations to volunteer some bandwidth on existing servers.   The Lebanon library felt that protecting online privacy was a worthwhile goal and decided to become the pilot project for the Boston-based Library Freedom Project.   But it almost didn’t happen.

When the Department of Homeland Security caught wind of the move, they alerted local law enforcement, who asked for permission to address the Library Board.   The project was put on hold until a public meeting could be held.  In the end, after hearing from all sides, the Board decided to go ahead with the project.  They felt that the right to privacy trumped the risk of criminal activity.

How would you have voted, had you been on the Library Board? Is our online privacy sacrosanct? Or should we give it up for the greater good, on the principle that if we are doing nothing wrong, we have nothing to hide? Personally, I find it creepy that someone is tracking my online activity, that every click of my mouse is being studied and analyzed, even if it is only to sell me something.

If you want to learn more about TOR, you can visit their website here.  Here is a good article on the New Hampshire library story.

--Ken Haigh