LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY * GOVERNMENT RELATIONS COMMITTEE

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM & PRIVACY

• AALL supports H.R. 1157 (Sanders), the Freedom to Read Protection Act, a measure that would strengthen protections for the privacy of bookstore and library records. In an endorsement of the bill, AALL and other representatives of the library community suggest, “Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act threatens bookstore and library privacy. FBI agents do not need to prove they have ‘probable cause’ before searching bookstore or library records: they can get access to the records of anyone whom they believe to have information that may be relevant to a terrorism investigation, including people who are not suspected of committing a crime or of having any knowledge of a crime. The request for an order authorizing the search is heard by a secret court in a closed proceeding, making it impossible for a bookseller or a librarian to have the opportunity to object on First Amendment grounds prior to the execution of the order….” H.R. 1157 would allow law enforcement officials to "subpoena book store and library records crucial to an investigation, but the courts will exercise their normal scrutiny in reviewing these requests."
  
  The full text of the statement is available at http://www.aallnet.org/aallwash/aa11142003.html.