X-posted with Natter:

I just got my November issue of Romance Writers Report. There's a rather chilling story of an author who had her home raided and her writing materials confiscated under the Patriot Act. She didn't want her name published, but she's multi-published with one of the RWA's recognized print publishers. She was researching what sounds like a romantic suspense novel set in Cambodia, so she searched websites, bought books online, and checked books out from her library on Cambodian history and current events, including landmines and terrorism, some of it connected to Al Qaeda. Some excerpts:

Interviewer: Did you have any reason to suspect you were being targeted for a raid, any advanced notice?

Author: No. Not a clue. Although, for awhile prior to the raid, I thought I was being stalked. Mail was missing from my box, I caught someone searching my trash, I saw a prowler in my yard and actually called the police. One of my neighbors saw someone watching from across the street--she wasn't sure it was my house or hers. She called the police, too--turns out they were taking surveillance photos.

The interviewer next asked her to describe the raid:

Author: The raid took place last fall, pre-dawn, and it lasted three hours. They banged at my front door first, damaged it coming in, displayed weapons, and threatened to kill my dogs. After that, imagine everything you've ever seen on TV, only worse. There were six male agents. One was in the "bad cop" mode the entire time, trying to intimidate me, yelling at me, threatening me. When I had to use the restroom, he sent an agent along to the bathroom with me. It was a multi-agency raid: Postal Inspectors (for the website/email end of it), the FBI, and three officers who would only identify themselves as Federal Police. They took so much--computers, photocopier, files, books, discs, computer programs, CDs of the music by which I write, contracts, absolutely everything I had connected to the writing world. They took pictures off my walls, my office television, pens, a case of paper, postage stamps...even now, after all these months, I still go to get something only to discover it missing.

She goes on to say they eventually brought her computers back, and according to her techie friend she had look at them, they're bugged. She got her disks back, ruined, but they still have everything else.

The search warrant they had was specific to her writing and research and included book titles. Though it wasn't on the warrant, they were very excited about the fact she owned the Writer's Digest "Scene of the Crime" series.

She's going on as she has before, but offers the following advice to writers who want to fly under the radar:

Don't buy your books online. It's tougher with the library issue because your check-out habits are monitored. Not every title, mind you, but...Homeland Security does watch some "flagged" books. Perhaps instead of checking out a book you think could be flagged, read it at the library [and] make notes or photocopies...

She also suggests using library computers for sensitive internet research.

Holy fuck, Susan. Mine came today and I hadn't looked at it yet. It's really kind of terrifying -- do you know how many times during copyediting I've looked up gun sites to check the spelling or model number of a particular firearm to make sure an author knows what s/he's talking about? That's just guns, obviously, and I highly doubt I'm about to be raided since most of Internet hits are Amazon, here, LJ, and lately stuff about the Hamptons, but it makes you wonder what someone else would "see" if they were monitoring your Internet use/purchases or library loans.

Tell me about it. I just made a "hey Feds" disclaimer over in Natter just in case they're not aware that all those weapons I'm looking up aren't exactly what you'd call state-of-the-art for any time after the Napoleonic Wars.

Yeesh. That's upsetting. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to do the "break down Echelon by sending email with all the trigger words in it" day.

Man, someone want to pass me shredded documents for decorative use on my tinfoil hat?

Two more weeks, two more weeks, two more weeks...

they were very excited about the fact she owned the Writer's Digest "Scene of the Crime" series.

Yep, there's my copy, sitting on my writing book shelf. Bought at a used book store. But I've checked it out of the library several times, along with the police procedurals copy from the How Dunnit series. Odd how the firearms volume is never checked in ...

First not-quite-thousand words (800-plus) done on "Gravekeeper". Going to beg for betas; I want to see if the man himself, and the town (fictional) are vivid.

Anyone?

Me. I'll get back to you early tomorrow.

Sitting here teeth chattering about Susan's post. Dammit.

Deb, I know I haven't done the beta thing before, but if you're still looking, I'd love to! Will likely be going to bed soon, but can do lots tommorrow.

Scary, isn't it? Sending. Just need to know about initial scene and character setting-ups. You know the drill.