Campaign for Reader Privacy Sees Progress on Patriot Act

On Wednesday, the Campaign for Reader Privacy [1] (CRP) said that progress is being made in the fight to restore the safeguards for the privacy of bookstore and library records that were eliminated by Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act.

Although Congress has extended Section 215 and two other expiring provisions for a year without changes, members of the Campaign, which include the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers, and PEN American Center, said, in a press release, they believe "that developments in 2009 have laid a strong legislative foundation for securing significant new protections for library circulation and bookstore sales records when the debate over re-authorization resumes later this year."

"While we are disappointed that more substantive, long-term remedies were not included in the extension, we are heartened that significant protections to reader privacy made during the reauthorization fight in 2005 - 2006 have been preserved," said ABA CEO Oren Teicher. "In the coming months, we will continue to make the case for full protection of reader privacy, and we are confident of ultimate victory in this fight."

"For the first time since passage of the Patriot Act in 2001, the House and Senate leadership agreed on the importance of protecting reader privacy," said Barbara Jones, director of ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. "In a few months, we will pick up the fight where we left off. We think we will have a good chance of winning the changes that we have been pursuing for more than eight years."

Portions of the Patriot Act that pose the greatest threat to civil liberties expire unless periodically renewed. Following reauthorization battles in 2005 and early 2006 [2], among other important changes, Congress granted bookstores and libraries receiving Section 215 orders the right to consult an attorney and challenge the orders in court; however, concerns remained about the law's potential chilling effect on First Amendment rights and reader privacy because the government retains the right to secretly search the records of anyone who it believes is relevant to a terrorist investigation.

In 2009, the Senate and House Judiciary Committees passed re-authorization bills that provided additional protections for bookstore and library records. The House bill would prohibit the use of Section 215 to search the records of a library patron or bookstore customer unless there were "specific and articulable facts" to show that the person is "a suspected agent of a foreign power" or someone who is in contact or known to the suspected agent. The Senate bill would provide enhanced protections for library patrons.

Congress, unable to consider the legislation before the December 31 expiration date, approved a two-month extension of the expiring provisions. However, the failed attempt to bomb an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day and other developments that affected the mood on Capitol Hill caused supporters of Patriot Act reform to feel that the timing was inopportune for debate over a full reauthorization measure.

Congress passed a one-year temporary extension of the provisions, which are now set to expire on February 28, 2011. The Campaign for Reader Privacy said that this would give it "and others seeking greater protections for civil liberties time to realign and reinvigorate their lobbying efforts. The Campaign believes that the proposed protections for bookstore and library records do not pose an impediment to anti-terrorism or law enforcement activities and remains confident that Congress will move forward on this important legislation this year."