Shhh. I'm researching a novel. Don't tell anyone.

See, the novel is about terrorists. Since I don't normally hang out in those circles, I'm looking up some things about how terrorists work, where they're from, and what methods they use. I've concluded from what I've read that my idea about biochemical warfare through an air-borne style plague that activates when it mixes with water could be valid.

I've also ordered several books on eco-terrorism, and perused the sites of the Earth Liberation Front and other monkey wrenchers for an urban fantasy novel I'm outlining.

Now I'm waiting for storm troopers to break through my door.

Although maybe I'll get those movie storm troopers in the white armor that can't seem to hit a thing within fifty feet. Those would be better.

The World Wide Web has opened doors to information we never would have been able to access thirty years ago when I was first published. Granted, what you find isn't always accurate, and like any good writer, you should always double-check your sources before you quote them. The Internet provides everyone with something to say an opportunity to say it, and radicals are no less accessible than anyone else. A writer can find just about anything wandering the ether.

At the same time, while I've been reading online, some high-pitched annoying little voice in the back of my head keeps warning me that Someone's going to notice what I'm doing. If you read about biochemicals, Big Brother will see you! it says. Don't read about how many cases of dynamite were found in ELF possession. Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!

But I don't get so worried… at first. If Big Brother really wants to take a look at me sitting here in my worn pajamas, rumpled hair, and fuzzy slippers, more power to him. I'll pour him some coffee and get him an aspirin. Even my husband doesn't want to look at me this time of morning, you know what I'm saying?

I remember we all got wound up a couple of years ago when that romance writer writing about Cambodia and potential terrorist connections was raided by the government; computers, music CDs, even cases of paper and pencils all confiscated. This allegedly occurred after her online research, book-buying, and library check-out patterns had brought her to the attention of Someone. (As I also remember, this story was eventually debunked to some degree as other facts came to light about the writer.)

That doesn't make the prospect of being investigated by our own government any less scary. We all read the stories about people being held without access to friends or family, or more importantly, without due process and an opportunity to defend themselves. Not an enviable position in which to find oneself.

Under the Patriot Act, the government conducts warrantless searches. Without getting permission from anyone, agents can look through your computer, correspondence, library records, and online purchase and reading histories. Just because.

You're not even safe if you don't leave an Internet trail, but just check out the books at your local library. The Connecticut Law Review cited a statistic that 20% of the nation's libraries have had some police or FBI agency seize records, giving it a one in five chance that they've been to yours. Did you know librarians can go to jail if they tell anyone that the police conducted a raid? So the government could be building a file on you, and you'd never know it.

An article in the March PC Magazine covers "web spiders" and how law enforcement gathers intelligence on terrorist communities around the world based on patterns. So now you're not even monitored by real people, who might discount certain queries or searches as clearly harmless. Machines bring you up on the radar, in cold reality, and turn that information over to Someone. Then… who knows?

My husband, computer geek that he is, suggested I could use proxies, university computers, anonymous search pages, etc., for the search to conceal my identity if I was worried. But how guilty does that appear? If you hide, do you have something to hide? If you don't hide, do they think you're onto them and purposely NOT hiding? Man. I'm starting to sound like Mel Gibson in that movie.

So I guess I'll just do my research the way I always have, open and honest, since that's part of the bottom line in America: freedom. Then I'll put the coffee on and wait for the knock at the door. What do you think-- one pot or two?

Babs Mountjoy has been a published writer for over 30 years, including seven years as a reporter and editor at the South Dade News Leader in Homestead, Florida. Her list of publications includes the nonfiction book 101 Little Instructions for Surviving Your Divorce, from Impact Publishers (1999), fiction in Matriarch's Way and Woman magazines, romantic fiction in Woman's World, nonfiction in Boy's Quest and Artefakt magazines, and frequent newspaper articles to date. She's also been notified recently that she's had a story accepted for A Cup of Comfort for the Divorced Woman, due out in December 2008.

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