AAP on the Hill / Issues: First Amendment

September 01, 2003

AAP Welcomes Senate Bill to Protect Library and Bookstore Records

AAP applauded the introduction on July 31 of Senate legislation that would restore the legal safeguards surrounding government searches of library, bookstore and other personal records that have been stripped away by Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act.  The legislation, S.1507, the “Library, Bookseller and Personal Records Privacy Act,” was introduced by Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) and co-sponsored by Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jon Corzine (D-NJ), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), and James Jeffords (I-VT).

S.1507 would require the government to show “specific and articulable facts” demonstrating a reason to believe that the individual whose records are sought is a suspected terrorist. “Under my bill, the FBI can still obtain documents that it legitimately needs, but my bill would also protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans,” Senator Feingold said.  Asserting that “it is time to reconsider those provisions of the Patriot Act that are un-American and, frankly, unpatriotic,” Senator Feingold said that if, as it claims, the Justice Department is not abusing its power nor seeking information on law-abiding citizens, “then there is no reason for the Department to object to my bill.”  In addition to restoring safeguards under Section 215, the Feingold bill would amend Section 505 of the Patriot Act which relates to the use of “administrative subpoenas” to obtain records from electronic communications providers. S.1507 would require an individualized showing by the FBI of how the records of Internet usage maintained by a library or bookseller pertain to a suspected terrorist or spy.

AAP President Pat Schroeder wrote to Senator Feingold and each of the co-sponsoring Senators congratulating and thanking them for their leadership on this important issue. “If bookstore customers and library patrons believe that government investigators can easily obtain their records, they will stop reading works they fear may expose them to government scrutiny.  S.1507 goes a long way to present this chilling effect on our First Amendment rights,” Mrs. Schroeder said in a letter of August 6.

For more information contact:

Judith Platt
Email: jplatt@publishers.org