Sample Release

For further information, contact:
Jane Doe, Fabulous Books, phone, email

For Immediate Release

Fabulous Books Joins PATRIOT Act Petition Campaign

(Boulder, CO -- March 1, 2004) Fabulous Books has joined hundreds of booksellers and librarians across the nation who are gathering signatures on petitions that urge Congress to restore the safeguards for reader privacy that were eliminated by the USA PATRIOT Act.

"I am deeply concerned about the chilling effect of the PATRIOT Act provision that allows the FBI to obtain the records of any of our customers," said Jane Doe, owner of Fabulous Books, 123 Main Street. Doe said that people are signing the petition eagerly. "We’re getting a tremendous response," she said.

The petition drive is part of the Campaign for Reader Privacy launched recently by the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association, and PEN American Center. The goal is to gather signatures in support of legislation introduced over the last year by Republicans, Democrats and Independents, including the Freedom to Read Protection Act (H.R. 1157) and the Security and Freedom Ensured (SAFE) Act (S. 1709).

Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to give the FBI vastly expanded authority to search business records, including the records of bookstores and libraries: the FBI may request the records secretly; it is not required to prove that there is "probable cause" to believe the person whose records are being sought has committed a crime; and the bookseller or librarian who receives an order is prohibited from revealing it to anyone except those whose help is needed to produce the records.

The Bush administration opposes changes in Section 215. Attorney General John Ashcroft has characterized concern over the privacy of bookstore and library records as "hysteria." In his State of the Union message on January 20, President George Bush called on Congress to reauthorize the provisions of the PATRIOT Act that are due to expire at the end of next year, including Section 215. More than 253 anti-PATRIOT Act resolutions have been passed nationwide in states, counties, cities and small towns -- including New York City, Kansas City, Missouri, and Valencia County, New Mexico, in just the last two weeks. [BOOKSELLERS: Click here to see a list of the communities around you that have passed anti-PATRIOT Act resolutions].

To demonstrate the unity of the book and library community, the groups also released a statement of support for proposed legislation that amends Section 215. The statement is signed by 40 organizations representing virtually every bookstore, library and writer in the country as well as over 80 individual companies, including Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Borders Group, Inc., Ingram Book Group, Penguin Book Group, Random House, Scholastic, Inc. Simon & Schuster and Holtzbrinck Publishers.

The statement is available online at http://news.bookweb.org/read/2235.