Patriot Act cuts into library privacy
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The U.S. Patriot Act threatens Americans’ freedom to read, an official of an arm of the national Association of American Publishers said Monday.
“Library privacy laws are now trumped by the Patriot Act,” said Judy Platt, director of communications and public affairs of Freedom to Read.
Platt told the Press Club of Baton Rouge that a field agent of the FBI can currently seek records if they think they “are relevant to an on-going investigation … with absolutely no court supervision.”
In addition, gag orders can be imposed preventing librarians from disclosing the attempt to look at a patron’s private reading records or Internet activity, Platt said.
Platt said the records of not only libraries and bookstores are affected but any business under the act originally approved in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and recently reauthorized.
The Bush administration said wide-ranging authority was needed to stop terrorist activities in the U.S.
Platt said her group is part of a coalition trying to get judicial oversight of the FBI activity. It is pushing for passage of the bipartisan “National Security Letter Reform Act,” she said.
“We want judicial oversight to be put back into the program,” Platt said. “Today they don’t have to show that a crime has been committed. They don’t have to show probable cause. All they have to say is it is relevant.”
Platt said librarians have been resisting turning over documents.
The federal legislation is scheduled to be heard in a U.S. House of Representatives Committee today, Platt said.
Platt said it would require “an individual standard of suspicion for the issues of that kind of order. It builds back judicial protections.”
The legislation would allow a 30-day gag order to keep the record-seeking secret, Platt said. The government could request an extension from a federal court, she said.
“Library privacy laws are now trumped by the Patriot Act,” said Judy Platt, director of communications and public affairs of Freedom to Read.
Platt told the Press Club of Baton Rouge that a field agent of the FBI can currently seek records if they think they “are relevant to an on-going investigation … with absolutely no court supervision.”
In addition, gag orders can be imposed preventing librarians from disclosing the attempt to look at a patron’s private reading records or Internet activity, Platt said.
Platt said the records of not only libraries and bookstores are affected but any business under the act originally approved in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and recently reauthorized.
The Bush administration said wide-ranging authority was needed to stop terrorist activities in the U.S.
Platt said her group is part of a coalition trying to get judicial oversight of the FBI activity. It is pushing for passage of the bipartisan “National Security Letter Reform Act,” she said.
“We want judicial oversight to be put back into the program,” Platt said. “Today they don’t have to show that a crime has been committed. They don’t have to show probable cause. All they have to say is it is relevant.”
Platt said librarians have been resisting turning over documents.
The federal legislation is scheduled to be heard in a U.S. House of Representatives Committee today, Platt said.
Platt said it would require “an individual standard of suspicion for the issues of that kind of order. It builds back judicial protections.”
The legislation would allow a 30-day gag order to keep the record-seeking secret, Platt said. The government could request an extension from a federal court, she said.
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