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Booksellers Claim Victory in Privacy BattleThe federal government has agreed not to pursue subpoenas requesting customer records of three bookstores in connection with an investigation of U.S. Sen. Robert G. Torricelli (D-N.J.), Chris Finan, president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), announced September 4. After receiving subpoenas in August seeking titles and financial information about purchases made by Torricelli and seven others, the bookstores—West Coast bookseller Arundel Books; Books and Books in Coral Gables, Florida; and Olsson’s Books in Washington, D.C.—vowed to fight the subpoenas in court on First Amendment grounds. ABFFE agreed to assist the bookstores in their fight. “We don’t think they’re entitled to know what people read,” Arundel Books owner Phil Bevis said in the September 5 Seattle Times. “It’s none of the government’s business.” The American Library Association was involved in two recent similar cases that did go to court: In 1998, ALA joined bookselling and publishing groups in opposing subpoenas issued by independent counsel Kenneth Starr to obtain information on Monica Lewinsky’s book purchases. Lewinsky’s attorneys eventually agreed to turn over records of her purchases directly. In 2000, ALA and the Freedom to Read Foundation filed an amicus curiae brief in the case of Denver’s Tattered Cover bookstore, which appealed a court order to tell police who purchased two books on drug-making. Posted September 10, 2001. |
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