Letter in The Independent, 21 June 2002, highlighting the lack of privacy for computer users in Devon.

Sir

Postponement of the "snoopers charter" (report, 19 June) should not deflect attention from the amount of surveillance already operated locally. A case in point is our libraries. Over the last 50 years, failures of state-sponsored "obscenity" trials have helped establish the right for adults to decide what to read. Libraries purchase pulp fiction as well as reference works. It is also well established that any book can be taken to a quiet corner and studied in private.

The internet and computers are replacing reference books yet the screens on machines in Devon have been so positioned that privacy is impossible. They can be read from 10 or more feet away by both librarians and casual onlookers. Library ticket numbers have to be entered before use, enabling an electronic audit trail of who has visited which web pages, and when.

The Internet has many serious uses including ending the monopoly power of High Street banks and travel agents. On-line banking and share dealing requires privacy. So does accessing medical and other reference web sites and sending e-mails. Deliberate visual and electronic "supervision" is allegedly to prevent use of a few undesirable websites - yet these are filtered out anyway by the Devon County Council server.

Dr STEPHEN WOZNIAK
Sidmouth, Devon