Reader Privacy Soon Restored? CRP Lauds Leahy Vow to 'Repair' Civil Liberties

On December 19, the sponsors of the Campaign for Reader Privacy (CRP) -- the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers, and PEN American Center -- lauded Sen. Patrick Leahy's (D-VT) call for the "restoration, repair, and renewal" of civil liberties in the U.S., including new legislation to repair the "erosion of privacy."

Last week during a speech at Georgetown Law School in Washington, D.C., Leahy, the incoming chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, "Privacy rights belong to the people, not the government." Promising that his committee would lead the way, he added, "We will take an active role -- and, I hope, a bipartisan role -- in charting a new course."

In a statement, CRP's sponsors expressed the hope that Leahy's emphasis on protecting privacy will translate into early action by the Senate to restore privacy safeguards for bookstore and library records that were eliminated by the USA Patriot Act.

"Booksellers everywhere are grateful for Sen. Leahy's interest in restoring privacy," said ABA COO Oren Teicher, "and we will do everything we can to help build bipartisan support for his position." Teicher noted that last year 38 Republican members of the House of Representatives helped pass Vermont Rep. Bernie Sanders' Freedom to Read Amendment, which would have exempted most bookstore and library records from search under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The amendment, which was attached to an appropriations bill, was later dropped during negotiations between House and Senate leaders.

"When the Patriot Act reauthorization was signed, I promised that the fight for reader privacy was far from over," said former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder, president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers. "Sen. Leahy's expressed commitment to restore civil liberties gives us the jump-start we need to renew that fight."

ALA President Leslie Burger noted, "Every state in the union protects the privacy and confidentiality of library reading records. People visiting libraries expect to enjoy the freedom to read without government monitoring. We look forward to putting privacy back on the national legislative agenda where it belongs."

In February, Congress reauthorized provisions of the Patriot Act that allow the FBI to search bookstore and library records on an assertion they may contain information "relevant" to a terrorism investigation. In 2005, the Senate approved restrictions on the FBI's search authority that would have tied such searches to a suspected terrorist or someone connected to the suspect. The House refused to approve that safeguard, however.

CRP was organized in 2004 to fight for changes in the Patriot Act. In the spring of 2004, it issued a statement on behalf of 35 organizations representing booksellers, librarians, writers and publishers in the U.S., as well as many prominent companies in the book publishing industry. It also launched a petition campaign that collected more than 200,000 signatures in bookstores and libraries.