ALA Urges Congress to
Sign Privacy Pledge
The American Library Association, as part of a 16-member Privacy Coalition, has called on lawmakers to sign a pledge to promote privacy standards and protect consumer information. The coalition presented the pledge during a news conference February 12 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
The group wants state and federal legislators to pass comprehensive legislation sometime this year, calling the privacy question “the major social issue of the information society and the top technology issue in the 107th Congress.”
“ALA’s issues related to privacy have long focused on the privacy of library records,” Lynne Bradley, director of ALA’s Washington Office of Government Relations told American Libraries. “There have been many questions to answer regarding online issues. This pledge is an attempt to address some of these issues and to join with others to keep library concerns in the forefront.”
Bradley said participation in the Privacy Coalition is one of several opportunities the Association wants to use to bring forth library concerns. A number of ALA groups are working to develop an Association-wide privacy policy.
Posted February 19, 2001.
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