New actions by government officials are making publishers and librarians more concerned about the powers of law enforcement agencies, acting under the Patriot Act, to gain access to the reading records of library patrons at the expense of First Amendment protections.
Librarians around the country are reporting that FBI agents have been visiting branches to check records. The University of Illinois conducted a survey of over 1,000 libraries and found that 85 libraries were approached in January and Frebruary by federal or local law enforcement seeking September 11—related information about patron reading habits.
Publishers and librarians are most concerned about section 215 of the Patriot Act, which gives the government authority to seize books or records with a court order obtained through a nonadversarial hearing in a special "secret" court. Not only can libraries be compelled to turn over records, but the law prohibits the library from disclosing the existence of the order. The law also overrides state and federal laws shielding journalists' source material.
The House Judiciary Committee, under chairman F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and ranking Democrat Jon Conyers, is planning to hold hearings on the matter and has contacted Attorney General John Ashcroft seeking details of about 50 provisions of the Patriot Act and how they will be implemented. The committee's 12-page letter requests written responses to questions by July 9.
At the recent American Library Association meeting in Atlanta, both the Association of American Publishers and the American Library Association issued statements expressing concern over the actions of law enforcement agencies.
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, deputy director of the ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom, told PW that they are telling libraries to obey the law, but noted that "this is not a new story. The police have been going after library records in drug cases and other crimes for a long time." She said the ALA is particularly concerned that the legal standard for court-ordered access was "low, and the Patriot Act broadens the kind of records available to be seized."
Chris Finan, director of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, said that while concerned, he was "encouraged that the House [judiciary] committee wants to find out more about how section 215 will be applied." He said he was also encouraged that the committee's letter emphasized a legal standard for access to records that ABFFE has long advocated, i.e., that any information sought should be "essential to an investigation and could not be obtained through any other means."
"We're all concerned about government surveillance of reading," said Caldwell-Stone. "Equating reading with an intent to commit a crime is chilling."
