Free Expression

The fight to restore safeguards for reader privacy that were eliminated by the USA Patriot Act took an important step forward last week.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression has joined with more than 40 free speech, civil liberties, and civil rights groups in a protest against plans by the House Homeland Security Committee to investigate the threat of Islamic “radicalization” in the U.S.

Media Coalition is calling on Hawaii’s House Judiciary Committee to respect the First Amendment rights of authors and publishers of visitor guidebooks and websites.

On Thursday, February 17, House members from both parties will try to add an amendment to an appropriations bill that would restore the safeguards for bookstore and library records that were eliminated by the Patriot Act.

The North Carolina Department of Revenue has reached a settlement in the legal fight regarding the state’s request for sales data from Amazon.com in its efforts to recoup an estimated $50 million in lost tax revenue for online purchases.

ABFFE is co-sponsoring a new program that will bring media lawyers and reporters to bookstores around the country to discuss important free speech issues, including censorship, source confidentiality, and the impact of the Internet on press freedom.

With debate picking up in Washington over reauthorization of sections of the USA Patriot Act that are set to expire on February 28, the Campaign for Reader Privacy is urging supporters to ask their members of Congress to support the restoration of safeguards for reader privacy eliminated by passage of the act in 2001.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression has a new address.

Sales at Wi6 of a T-shirt featuring an “enhanced” version of the classic painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware” will benefit the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.

Last week, President Obama signed into law a new ban on the sale of animal “crush” videos, which replaces a 1999 law struck down in April as a violation of the First Amendment. The new law applies to a narrower range of material, but it has raised concerns for ABFFE and other free speech advocates.