The Department of Homeland Security is Monitoring Inter-library Loans
The full story is accessible here. Below are some excerpts:
"A senior at UMass Dartmouth was visited by federal agents two months ago, after he requested a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's tome on Communism called "The Little Red Book."
"Two history professors at UMass Dartmouth, Brian Glyn Williams and Robert Pontbriand, said the student told them he requested the book through the UMass Dartmouth library's interlibrary loan program.
The student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for Professor Pontbriand's class on fascism and totalitarianism, filled out a form for the request, leaving his name, address, phone number and Social Security number. He was later visited at his parents' home in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the professors said. ....
"Dr. Williams said he had been planning to offer a course on terrorism next semester, but is reconsidering, because it might put his students at risk. 'I shudder to think of all the students I've had monitoring al-Qaeda Web sites, what the government must think of that,' he said. 'Mao Tse-Tung is completely harmless.'"
Update: Interesting commentary on this from Pandagon, Michael Berube, Media Girl.