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Campaign for Reader Privacy Urges Passage of NSL Reform Act
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The members of the Campaign for Reader Privacy (CRP) -- the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers, and PEN American Center -- published an open letter calling on Congress to pass legislation that would restore the safeguards for reader privacy eliminated by the USA Patriot Act.
In the Tuesday, April 1, edition of Roll Call, the groups urged approval of the National Security Letters Reform Act (S. 2088 and H.R. 3189). Their letter cited two recent reports by the Inspector General of the Justice Department that found the FBI violated the law thousands of times since 2001, when Congress expanded its authority to issue National Security Letters (NSLs), which can be used to seize records from bookstores and libraries without court approval.
"The NSL Reform Act gives the FBI the tools it needs to conduct urgent investigations without sacrificing our most basic constitutional principles," the CRP letter said.
S. 2088 and H.R. 3189 restrict FBI searches to the records of those either suspected of, or directly connected to, terrorism or espionage. They also limit the time that booksellers and librarians are barred from revealing the receipt of an NSL, which is used to obtain Internet records, or a Section 215 order, which can be used to demand all other records.
The Justice Department Inspector General found that from 2003 to 2006 the FBI issued 200,000 NSLs.
S. 2088 was introduced by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and is co-sponsored by 11 senators. H.R. 3889 was introduced by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and is co-sponsored by 27 representatives. Neither bill has received a hearing since being introduced last year.
Signatories of the CRP letter are Pat Schroeder, president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers; Avin Mark Domnitz, CEO of the American Booksellers Association; Loriene Roy, president of the American Library Association; and Francine Prose, president of PEN American Center. (Read the letter.)