For Immediate Release - February 26, 2002

For more information contact: Chris Finan, ABFFE, (212) 587-4025, chris@abffe.com

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), the bookseller's voice in the fight against censorship, expressed its support today for legislation to protect the privacy of bookstore records during a hearing before a committee of the Maryland House of Delegates. "The growing number of subpoenas and search warrants issued to bookstores for the purpose of discovering what people are reading makes it imperative that we increase the protections for book purchase records," ABFFE President Chris Finan said. "If bookstore customers fear that the police can easily discover what they are reading, they will not feel free to buy the books they want and need."

Finan joined Alicia Green, the marketing director of Olsson's Books and Music, which has stores in Washington, D.C., Bethesda, Md., and northern Virginia in testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee on House Bill 897. H.B. 897 limits the circumstances in which police can seek search warrants or subpoenas for bookstore purchase records. If it were enacted, search warrants could be issued only in very rare cases, while subpoenas would normally be approved only after a court hearing at which the person whose records are being sought and the bookseller who holds them have an opportunity to oppose the request.

H.B. 897 provides a four-part test for granting a subpoena, including a requirement that "the purposes of the investigation cannot be achieved by alternative investigative methods or sources that do not require disclosure of the information sought."

Also supporting H.B. 897 in testimony today were Delegate Samuel Rosenberg of Baltimore, the sponsor of the bill, and Tom Saquella of the Maryland Retail Association.

Finan stressed that booksellers are not seeking immunity for bookstore records. "We understand that there will be cases in which bookstore records are the only way to solve a crime," he said. "What we are trying to stop is a growing tendency on the part of police to seek bookstore records as a routine part of their investigation. We think bookstore records should be sought only when there is no other way to advance the case."

There have been four cases in the last two years in which police have obtained search warrants or subpoenas for bookstore records. Three of these cases were resolved without turning over the information the police were demanding. The fourth case involves the Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, which is fighting a judge's order to surrender information. In December, the Colorado Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case.