Advocacy

Sony Pictures, which decided to pull The Interview from widespread distribution after threats from cyber-hackers, “should take a page from America’s booksellers,” wrote Ken Paulson, the president of the First Amendment Center, dean of the College of Mass Communication at Middle Tennessee State University, and a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors, in a December 19 USA TODAY column.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression has been reconstituted as the American Booksellers for Free Expression Group at ABA, starting January 1, 2015. With the change come a new address, telephone number, and e-mail address.

On December 4, bookstore members should have received an e-mail from ABA with updated information regarding the recent notice sent to them by the Visa/MasterCard interchange class settlement administrator.

Late last week, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Boehner dashed any hopes Main Street retailers had of getting a federal e-fairness solution passed during the lame-duck Congressional session.

Seventeen small business owners representing 21 stores in Ohio have sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner to express their strong disappointment regarding his lack of support for sales tax fairness.

On December 8, the U.S. Supreme Court considered a challenge brought by the Direct Marketing Association regarding a 2010 Colorado law that requires out-of-state retailers to either collect and remit sales tax for purchases made by Colorado residents or to inform their Colorado customers that they owe use tax on the purchases they have made.

When the final gavel fell on December 8, the ABFFE holiday auction of children’s book art raised more than $14,000 to support the free speech rights of kids, an increase of 40 percent compared to the previous year.

With just a few weeks left in the congressional session, the Advocates for Independent Business is urging indie businesses to participate in a grassroots social media campaign in support of e-fairness.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression’s holiday auction of art by leading children’s book illustrators is underway on eBay through December 8.

At the Miami Book Fair International panel discussion “Do Monsters Live in Our Laptops?,” book industry experts, including ABA CEO Oren Teicher, discussed whether the promise of digitization as a democratizing force has instead led to large corporations dominating the book industry.

Following protests by ABA and NAIBA, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has vetoed a bill that would have punished bookstores that mistakenly disclose customer information to the police and other third parties.

The sponsors of Banned Books Week are asking booksellers to respond to a short online survey, which will help organizers improve the only national celebration of the freedom to read.

Effective January 1, the operations of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression will be integrated into ABA’s in order to expand the free speech programming available to independent booksellers.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression has created a variety of tools that bookstores can use to help promote its holiday auction of children’s book art to consumers.

Bookstores that opted out of the Visa and MasterCard credit card swipe fee cash settlement back in 2013 may have received, or could soon receive, a notice offering them the chance to rejoin the cash settlement class.