Comments on: Red Book Bashing

By: Roughtheory.org » Homeland Insecurity

Roughtheory.org » Homeland Insecurity — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 22:36:19 +0000

[...] Savage Minds drew my attention to the story, reported originally in the Standard Times South Coast Today, that a UMass Dartmouth student was visited by the Department of Homeland Security after requesting a copy of Mao’s Little Red Book via interlibrary loan. [...]

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By: N. Pepperell

N. Pepperell — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 16:11:06 +0000

Aaron Nicodemus (the reporter who “broke” the original story) has also published an updated article, which quotes representatives from the FBI and DHS who are very skeptical of the story.

Nevertheless, Brian Glyn Williams seems quite firm (from a variety of communications, to different sources) in his support for the student. I’ve been growing increasingly curious – particularly watching Williams’ story itself mutate slightly over time (once it became evident that UMass Dartmouth had no record of the ILL request, he then clarified that the book was requested via Amherst; once it was claimed that DHS has no field agents, he indicated that it may have been the FBI) – whether Williams himself received this story second hand? – e.g., did the student say something to Pontbriand, which Pontbriand then relayed to Williams, who then relayed it to the rest of the world?

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By: Velcro

Velcro — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 15:05:41 +0000

The Mao’s Little Red Book story seems to be turning out to be a hoax. The below is on today’s Inside Higher Ed:

“The Department of Homeland Security adamantly denied Wednesday that its officials had interrogated a senior at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth because he tried to borrow from acampus library an unabridged version of The Little Red Book. The alleged incident has prompted a controversy, but Jamie Zuieback, a spokeswoman for the department, said, “We investigate violations of the law, not individuals’ reading habits.” She said that department officials have “serious questions about the veracity of the claims” made by the student. She also indicated that the department “has no such thing as a book watch list.” Brian Glyn Williams, a professor whom the student shared his claims with, said Wednesday that he still believes the student. To date, the student remains anonymous.” http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/12/22/qt

If this is indeed a hoax I think that Glyn Williams has some serious explaining to do.

I see no reason for the student to remain annonymous, if Homeland Security already knows who s/he then there is nothing to loose, if they don’t then the story is a fraud. It is becoming clear that this second option is the most likely.

Glyn Williams should hold a press conference and distance himself from this story that will likely soon self destruct as a fraud. If it does, it will be used by Homeland Security to claim that America is needlessly paranoid about NSA/Homeland Security surveillance, and this will help efforts to make the Patriot Act permanent.

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By: oneman

oneman — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:59:40 +0000

There appears to be some question about the veracity of this story — Boing Boing is doing a good job keeping track of the various challenges. The reporter maintains that the story he reported is true, and that he is trying to get the student to come forward and also to get the DHS and the U Mass – Dartmouth library to comment. A copycat story was circulated, citing sources at UCSC, which was indeed a hoax — they simply rewrote the original story with different names. The main sticking point in the U Mass story is the assertion that the student left his Social Security number on his Inter-Library Loan request, which is not the policy at U Mass. It is, of course, conceivable that the student misremembered what information he had filled out — or that he “over-corrected” in an effort to tell a more convincing story. Further details will, hopefully, be forthcoming…

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By: N. Pepperell

N. Pepperell — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 01:32:53 +0000

I’m curious about the status of this story – it seems the paper has not spoken directly to the student involved, and is essentially reporting at second hand information a student reported to their university professors. I’m sure the professors are acting in good faith, but the facts seem a bit odd.

The story includes some odd details (is it now standard practice in the US for people to leave their social security numbers when requesting a book through interlibrary loan?). And, without contesting the heightened intrusiveness of Homeland Security, does it make sense that they would investigate the request of one book, by a student actually affiliated with a university, who was moreover so diligent that they left a great deal of personally identifying information when making the request? Does this particular book have such a close association with the kinds of terrorist organisations that would be closely watched at the present time? If so, why hasn’t Homeland Security also paid a visit to all the students monitoring (according to the professor cited above) al-Qaeda websites – surely some of these students have also spent time abroad?

I’m not trying to be overly skeptical and, as I said, I’m sure people are acting in good faith in reporting this. But I personally would like a bit more confirmation…

The broader point, though, of whether we know the full extent of monitoring of intellectual activity in the US, and of whether this monitoring has a chilling effect on critical academic work, is still a very salient one.

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By: J. Otto Pohl

J. Otto Pohl — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 00:45:48 +0000

It is not often that I see people that I know fairly well in hot blog news. I think Brian Williams is only the second one after Shirin Akiner.

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By: History News Network

History News Network — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 23:24:02 +0000

[...] Log In CLIOPATRIA: A Group BlogManan Ahmed (∞); Alan Allport (∞); Chris Bray (∞); Timothy Burke (∞); Miriam Elizabeth Burstein (∞); Oscar Chamberlain (∞); Jonathan Dresner (∞); Rebecca Anne Goetz (∞); Mark Grimsley (∞); Sharon Howard (∞); Robert KC Johnson (∞); Ralph E. Luker (∞); Rob MacDougall (∞); Caleb McDaniel (∞); Jonathan T. Reynolds (∞); Nathanael D. Robinson (∞); Greg James Robinson (∞); Hugo Schwyzer (∞); Sam Wineburg (∞)Sunday, December 18, 2005 Ralph E. Luker More Noted ThingsBrian Ulrich and Glenn Reynolds call attention to Aaron Nicodemus, “Agents Visit Chills Umass Dartmouth Senior,” Standard-Times, 17 December, about Department of Homeland Security officials interrogating a student who had ordered a copy of Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book on InterLibraryLoan. Reynolds and a commenter at Brian’s site are skeptical, but it’s a disturbing story. I’d like to hear more from the student’s history professors, Robert Pontbriand and Brian Glyn Williams. Dr. Williams said in his research, he regularly contacts people in Afghanistan, Chechnya and other Muslim hot spots, and suspects that some of his calls are monitored. “My instinct is that there is a lot more monitoring than we think,” he 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.” If this story is correct as reported, this is intolerable. Update: See also: D. Weinburger, “You Are What You Read,” Joho the Blog, 18 December; and Oneman, “Red Book Bashing,” Savage Minds, 18 December. [...]

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By: Roughtheory.org

Roughtheory.org — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

story , reported originally in the South Coast Daily, that a UMass Dartmouth student was visited by the Department of Homeland Security after requesting a copy of Mao’s Little Red Book via interlibrary loan.

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