Reader Privacy Concerns Overblown Says Tampa Trib -- Not So Say Booksellers

On Tuesday, October 5, Florida's Tampa Tribune published an editorial entitled "The Patriot Act's License to Snoop Causes Unjustified Anxiety " that began by stating, "Fears that the Patriot Act allows government agents to spy on everyone's library records are wildly overblown. All the three-year-old law does is open a variety of semiprivate files to scrutiny by agents conducting espionage investigations. These records have long been available to police working a normal criminal investigation." (To read the full editorial, go to tampatrib.com/News/MGBY5BACXZD.html.)

Carla Jimenez and Leslie Reiner, co-owners of Inkwood Books in Tampa, took exception to the newspaper's assessment of the effects of the USA Patriot Act on reader privacy and sent the following letter to the editor, which appeared in the newspaper on Sunday, October 10.

To the Editor, Tampa Tribune:

We were disappointed at your claim that the Patriot Act's License to Snoop Causes Unjustified Anxiety (Oct. 5, 2004). The timing couldn't be more ironic. October 4 was the last day of the annual celebration of our right to read by observation of Banned Books Week, considered nostalgic by some, but once again proven still relevant. On September 29, representatives of the Campaign for Reader Privacy (http://www.readerprivacy.com/), speaking for booksellers, librarians, publishers, and writers, presented petitions to Congress with over 200,000 signatures calling for amendment of Section 215 provisions. We are proud that several hundred of our customers signed petitions at Inkwood Books and many others signed online, agreeing that threats to our precious privacy and liberty cannot be ignored whatever the source.

While Attorney General Ashcroft refers to concerns about bookstore and library privacy as "hysteria," your readers should know that there is strong disagreement. Over 45 organizations representing virtually every bookstore, library, and writer in the country, as well as over 140 individual companies, joined the Campaign for Reader Privacy. Well over 250 anti-Patriot Act resolutions have been passed by local governments, including Tampa's City Council. Republicans, Democrats, and Independents in Congress have worked together for over a year to amend provisions that may violate civil liberties, and at least one federal court recently found some provisions unconstitutional.

Section 215, which amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, gave the FBI vastly expanded authority to secretly search business records, including the records of bookstores and libraries. Under Section 215, 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 -- including an attorney or other advisor. As noted by the American Booksellers Association's Oren Teicher, "To be clear -- we do not claim any absolute right to privacy ... we recognize that there may be unusual circumstances when appropriate law enforcement authorities may be able to convince a court of law to issue a search warrant to a bookstore or library. But Section 215 eliminates all of the procedural safeguards that currently protect bookstore and library privacy."

At Inkwood Books, and at bookstores and libraries across our country, we will continue to honor the principles and constitutional protections that keep us free.

Sincerely,
Carla Jimenez and Leslie Reiner
Inkwood Books
Tampa, Florida