I was just talking about this the other day. This all happened right after 9/11(nevr 4get) and people were fucking PISSED that the patriot act wanted to look at people's library histories. It was a HUGE deal where I lived. Now? Nobody gives a shit and people will trade away their valuable privacy for an IQ test.

Can you clarify what you mean?

My local library is run by the county government, so of course the government can see the checkouts, they are the ones I check the book out from. But they restrict checkout information from others. For example, a parent can see the checkouts of their own children, but not after they turn 13.

Perhaps you're talking about subpoenas? Checking some other libraries I see SF Public Library has some discussion about that, but they delete books from your checkout history once they are returned. https://sfpl.org/about-us/confidentiality-and-usa-patriot-ac...

USA PATRIOT Act, early 2000s?

I mean in hindsight, how mental is it that you could look up people's names, addesses and phone numbers in public records?

...I mean I suppose you still can but still, it's not as obvious anymore and people's mobile phone numbers are unlisted by default and not publicly linked to an address..

We also used to run spyware and adware scanner and removal tools, but now the ad/spyware rebranded and became mainstream...