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Letter to Booksellers From Oren Teicher Re Patriot Act Passage
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With the House and Senate both voting for the USA Patriot Act reauthorization bill, and President Bush's signature on the legislation a fait accompli, this week, ABA COO Oren Teicher wrote a letter to update booksellers regarding the revised Patriot Act and to thank them for their efforts. In addition, ABA is providing booksellers with a PDF that explains to customers the outcome of the Patriot Act reauthorization and also thanks customers for their participation in Campaign for Reader Privacy.
In his letter, Teicher noted that "while ABA and its allies in the Campaign for Reader Privacy are not happy with some of the provisions of the new law, it is a significant improvement over the legislation that was approved by Congress just six weeks after the September 11 attacks." He also thanked booksellers for their efforts in the battle to amend Section 215.
Teicher also noted: "Booksellers and librarians who receive Section 215 orders have been granted new rights: the right to consult an attorney; the right to challenge the orders in the FISA court, and, a year after receiving the order, the right to challenge the 'gag' provision of the order, which prohibits revealing it to anyone other than a lawyer. Finally, the public has gained the right to learn whether Section 215 is being abused: the Inspector General of the Justice Department will conduct a review of the use of Section 215 since 2001 and report publicly whether any abuses have occurred; in addition, the Justice Department must annually report the number of bookstore and library searches that have occurred under Section 215."
To view and download the customer letter in PDF form, click here.
Letter to Booksellers from Oren Teicher
Dear Bookseller, As you know, the House and the Senate have now passed the bill that reauthorizes the expiring sections of the USA Patriot Act, including Section 215, which will be extended for four years. President Bush is expected to sign the bill later this week. While ABA and its allies in the Campaign for Reader Privacy are not happy with some of the provisions of the new law, it is a significant improvement over the legislation that was approved by Congress just six weeks after the September 11 attacks. First, let's admit plainly that we did not achieve everything we hoped for in the reauthorization bill. The Patriot Act makes it possible for the FBI to search any bookstore and library records that it deems "relevant" to a terrorism investigation. Our allies in Washington, led by Rep. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, fought long and hard in an effort to narrow the search authority granted in Section 215 to the records of people suspected of terrorism. Both the House and the Senate approved such a limitation. But it was strongly opposed by the Bush administration, and, in the end, was not included in the final reauthorization bill. However, the reauthorization bill contains a number of procedural safeguards and new oversight requirements that begin to reestablish protections for reader privacy. Two new procedural hurdles have been imposed on FBI agents who want to apply for a Section 215 order to search bookstore or library records: they must first obtain the permission of one of three top FBI officials -- the director, deputy director, or the executive assistant director of national security; they must also present a statement of facts justifying the relevance of their request to a judge in the secret court established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Booksellers and librarians who receive Section 215 orders have been granted new rights: the right to consult an attorney; the right to challenge the orders in the FISA court, and, a year after receiving the order, the right to challenge the "gag" provision of the order, which prohibits revealing it to anyone other than a lawyer. Finally, the public has gained the right to learn whether Section 215 is being abused: the Inspector General of the Justice Department will conduct a review of the use of Section 215 since 2001 and report publicly whether any abuses have occurred; in addition, the Justice Department must annually report the number of bookstore and library searches that have occurred under Section 215. While Congress has taken an important step forward, we believe the fight for reader privacy must continue. Congress has now reauthorized Section 215 through the end of 2009. The sponsors of the Campaign for Reader Privacy, along with Rep. Sanders and Sen. Feingold, announced that they will continue to fight to fully restore the protections for reader privacy. I hope that you take some satisfaction in what we have achieved. Booksellers have been at the forefront of the campaign to amend the Patriot Act from the very beginning. It was a handful of booksellers and librarians in Vermont who got the ball rolling by attracting the interest of Bernie Sanders. Then, booksellers collected hundreds of thousands of signatures on petitions that demonstrated to Congress that the American people care deeply about their civil liberties. One of those booksellers, Linda Ramsdell of Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vermont, shares her thoughts about where we are in the fight in this week's Bookselling This Week. To read Linda's article, click here. ABA and the other groups in the Campaign for Reader Privacy are deeply grateful for your efforts and look forward to joining you in the next battle! Yours very truly, Oren J. Teicher Chief Operating Officer American Booksellers Association P.S. We have produced a short letter that booksellers can use to explain the outcome of the reauthorization fight to their customers. Click here to download a PDF containing the letter. |