Section 215 Debated on the View

Not quite Stone vs. Posner, but interesting to see the Section 215 debate seep into popular culture.

Of course, I'm mostly in agreement with Dennis Miller, and he's correct that Section 215 has almost certainly never been used in a library setting. (The fabled Connecticut case involved Section 505 of the Patriot Act, and related to a user who sent an anonymous threatening e-mail to the FBI from a library computer)

I'm not a Rosie O'Donnell fan to begin with, so I wasn't surprised by her truly moronic comment that "the Patriot Act has robbed us of our civil liberties", and her use of the butchered Ben Franklin quote. Yet at the same time, her remarks are reflective of how the fearmongering and hysteria generated by many Patriot Act opponents, especially in our profession, have now permeated the broader discourse.