Contact:
Chris Finan, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression,
(917) 509-0340
For Immediate Release
NEW YORK, N.Y., March 6, 2003–The American Booksellers Foundation
for Free Expression today hailed the introduction of federal
legislation that removes a threat to the privacy of bookstore and
library records created by the U.S.A. Patriot Act. The
introduction of the Freedom to Read Protection Act of 2003 was
announced at a Washington press conference held today by
Congressman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Ron Paul (R-TX). “While
booksellers strongly support efforts to fight terrorism, the
Patriot Act gives federal authorities virtually unchecked
authority to search our customers’ records and raises concern that
government is monitoring what people are reading,” ABFFE President
Chris Finan said. “The Freedom to Read Protection Act will restore
faith in the confidentiality of these records without harming
national security.”
Rep. Sanders agreed to introduce the Freedom to Read Protection
Act after Vermont booksellers and librarians organized a
letter-writing campaign last fall that targeted members of the
state’s Congressional delegation. Two of the organizers of the
campaign, Linda Ramsdell, owner of the Galaxy Bookshop in
Hardwick, Vermont, and Trina Magi, the past president of the
Vermont Library Association, spoke at the press conference today.
Ramsdell is the president of the New England Booksellers
Association.
The Patriot Act amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
(FISA) to give the FBI vastly expanded authority to search
business records, including the records of bookstores and
libraries: the FBI may request the records secretly; it is not
required to prove that there is “probable cause” to believe the
person whose records are being sought has committed a crime; and,
the bookseller or librarian who receives an order is prohibited
from revealing it to anyone except those whose help is needed to
produce the records.
The Freedom to Read Protection Act bars the FBI from seeking
“personally identifiable information concerning a patron of a
bookseller or library” under Section 501 of FISA. The government
may still attempt to subpoena this information if it can make a
sufficient legal showing.
Since 1998 when Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr attempted to
subpoena Monica Lewinsky’s book purchase records, several courts
have blocked prosecutors’ efforts to obtain lists of titles
purchased by particular customers on the grounds that they would
have a chilling effect on First Amendment rights. Last April, the
justices of the Colorado Supreme Court voted unanimously to
suppress a search warrant that sought customer records from the
Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver. The court declared that the
police had failed to demonstrate a need for the information that
was compelling enough to outweigh the potential chilling effect of
disclosing the records. |
