In Colorado, there’s a very special bookstore called the Tattered Cover. It’s a gigantic 6 story book store with more than triple the selection of books I’ve ever seen at any other bookstore. It also happens to be privately owned. A few years back, the government asked for lists of book purchases various customers had made. The old lady who owned the store refused and took the case to court. Eventually she won. Then a few months later, the Patriot Acts (which were supposedly just for dealing with terrorism) passed, and then the court ruling she’d won meant nothing. She had to turn over the readers’ purchase history. The thing is, the investigation wasn’t even about terrorism.