[pp.int.general] mandatory identification in Internet shops?

[Reinier Bakels]

> knowing what citizens are reading has always been important to secret
> services. Did you need internet access to lookup book locations or order
> books in the library or for surfing around? It would be interesting if
> the library makes a difference between searching for books, lending
> books and surfing the web.
>
This is an important issue too (different though).
Public libraries in NL are now obliged to present catalog search activity 
(iirc) to police authorities. A query like  "EXPLOSIVES" and "AIRPLANE" is 
obviously suspect ... (hope this mail is not scanned for keywords ...)

This is another measure that infringes privacy of honest people while it 
does not prohibit criminals to do anything they want.

The library I referred to in my initial post is the library of a Technical 
University. It has all its books on open shelves in a giant four stories 
bookcase (see 
http://www.library.tudelft.nl/ws/library/rondleidingen/index.htm#360tour). 
There is no checking at the entrance. So everyone can read all books and 
make photocopies (only for borrowing you have to be a registered member or a 
student, which is logical). City libraries typically are open to the public 
as well, and most books are in open shelves (but I have heard that in the UK 
library personnel gets nervous if you take a book to a photocopier because 
of more strict copyright enforcement in the UK).

Until recently, Dutch universities did not allow Iranian students to study 
discliplines connected to nuclear physics - based on a UN declaration: 
otherwise they would learn how to make a nuclear bomb. Well, if all the 
books are in open shelves ... Recently a court decided that they should not 
be banned. Frankly, I don't believe it is realistic to believe that someone 
learns how to make a nuclear bomb in a technical university. Neither do I 
believe that it can be prevented.

Perhaps people still think of a Pakistani 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Qadeer_Khan who was a researcher in the 
Netherlands in the early 1970s (and studied at "my" university in the 
1960s). After he returned to Pakistan, he became the "father" of the 
Pakistan nuclear bomb. I guess the difference is that this gentleman had 
access to very specific, secret technology (ultracentrifuges for uranium 
enrichment).

reinier