There are many people, quite vocal, who believe that librarians are more appropriate 'Internet leaders' than computer geeks. I agree with them in many important respects. They tend to idolize the librarian as civil liberties hero.
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. But 'Lt. Starbuck' did the same thing that the system administrators did. When confronted by police, he very quickly gave out the name of his writing 'accomplice', something that a more professional reporter might not have done. Carl Kadie is the founder of the Internet's Computers and Academic Freedom newsletter. Kadie says that computer administrators desperately need to develop similar ethics.