The USA PATRIOT Act and libraries

Previous |Next| Table of Contents

Librarians and other interested parties were actively involved throughout 2005 in the fight to amend sections of the USA PATRIOT Act that infringe on library patron privacy and civil liberties. The Campaign for Reader Privacy—including the American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers, PEN American Center and the ALA—worked with House and Senate lawmakers in an attempt to guarantee that re-authorization legislation would contain language strengthening reader privacy.

Library supporters’ grassroots efforts in protest of portions of the USA PATRIOT Act resonated on Capitol Hill in 2005. Librarians stayed in close contact with their elected representatives as debate over renewal of the act dragged on through the summer and into winter 2005. Library supporters saw the results of their many phone calls and e-mails to elected officials when, on the final day before its summer recess, the Senate passed a reauthorization bill that would have added to the PATRIOT Act many of the safeguards for library and reader privacy that have been sought by the library community since the original passage of the law, including tougher requirements for searching library records under Section 215.

In December, the House passed a bill that contained a number of provisions from the Senate bill—but not the ones most important to the library community. These are the requirement of "individualized suspicion," which would limit the FBI’s ability under Section 215 to search the reading records of people who are not suspected of any crime and who have no link to suspected terrorists; and a provision allowing recipients of Section 215 subpoenas and of National Security Letters to meaningfully challenge in court the gag attached to those orders.

The library community made a concerted effort to stop the flawed bill from proceeding, and a bipartisan group of senators successfully filibustered the bill, forcing the Congress to extend sunsetting provisions of the act until March 10. In February, four Republican Senators introduced a compromise bill that was intended to advance protections for library users and others—but left in place the controversial aspects of Section 215. The House subsequently passed the compromise Senate bill, and reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act was complete.

Section 215 is reauthorized until December 31, 2009. Some improvements have been made in reporting requirements and also in the specificity of any order issued under Section 215. The legislation introduced by the four Republican Senators, and passed by both chambers, prohibits the FBI from using National Security Letters in the vast majority of libraries.

The efforts of librarians across the country were fundamental in helping to effect changes to the USA PATRIOT Act. While the changes to the PATRIOT Act were not as comprehensive as the library community had hoped, its advocacy efforts helped secure significant changes in the act, leading Illinois Senator Dick Durbin to thank the ALA on the floor of the Senate.

Next  

Previous | Table of Contents