ALA, Allied Organizations Ask Congress To Revise Patriot Act

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Library Journal

ALA, Allied Organizations Ask Congress To Revise Patriot Act
Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 4/9/2009

In an effort to steer the Congressional debate, the American Library Association (ALA) and groups representing booksellers, publishers, and writers have asked Congress to exempt library and bookstore records from the provisions of Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, which is scheduled to be renewed this year.

The Campaign for Reader Privacy, which involves the ALA, American Booksellers Association, Association of American Publishers, and PEN American Center, notes that Republicans in the House of Representative have introduced legislation extending the provision at issue, and two others, for another decade. Also, FBI Director Robert Mueller, who was appointed to a ten-year term in 2001, has called on Congress to extend the three expiring provisions.

“It is too early to tell what the final word from the Obama Administration will be,” Lynne Bradley, deputy director of ALA’s Washington Office, told LJ. “To be proactive and prudent, the Coalition is making it clear we’re not letting this go away. We maintain there should be higher legal protections for First Amendment activities.”

In Congressional testimony in January, then-Attorney General nominee Eric Holder expressed qualified support for maintaining Section 215. Bradley said the timing of the revision is unclear, given various “speculations about whether this will happen very soon, or in the fall.”

Impact of Patriot Act
Since 2003, the Department of Justice has used its expanded power under the Patriot Act to issue more than 200 secret search orders under Section 215 and more than 190,000 National Security Letters (NSLs), the Campaign said, noting that, while recipients face a gag order, there have been at least three “significant and disturbing attempts to obtain records from libraries since 2003.”


Read more: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6650577.html

[goforit]

1. Obama let Bush/Cheney walk free on torture and will do the same here.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. It doesn't need to be revised, it needs to be repealed. COMPLETELY. n/t