Law and Order: Criminal Intent

I love this show, but it upset me greatly Monday night. During their search for their nemesis, serial killer Nicole, Bobby and Eames visited the library where she worked (as a GSA or similar). The clerk gladly handed over her online usage history and allowed the detectives to search her desk! I believe they were also granted access to her book/checkout history. No court order, no subpeona or search warrant!

Don't television writers do research? It's exactly this kind of behavior that diminishes the public's perceptions of their first ammendment rights. I'm terribly afraid that some American citizen watching that show, and accepting it as mostly truth (because it's on t.v.) would actually think this turn of events would occur in the real world. Granted, another example of poor depiction of a real world event on television is the very court room behavior found on all Law and Order shows, so I'm not terribly surprised. But they grossly misrepresent the court system to make it interesting to watch; misrepresentation of basic constitutional rights for the sake of quick police work gives the public the impression that law enforcement is even more powerful than it's already become.