The Internet compounds the problem exponentially. But Ontario authorities, from the attorney-general on down, are painfully confused about how Karla, the ban and the Internet relate. Yet here we have Western's security officer saying quite bluntly he doesn't care. He will cooperate with police for fear his computers will be confiscated if he doesn't. The law applies here just as much as elsewhere.
Computer administrators have no history of standing up to the police or the state.
Librarians, on the other hand, have decades of precedent in demanding subpoenas and warrants when authority comes calling. Computer administrators lack this training and tradition. Karen Adams, executive director of the Canadian Library Association, told eye a librarian would probably have demanded a warrant before revealing if Lt. Starbuck even had an account at a library. Kadie says that computer administrators desperately need to develop similar ethics.