On the day that the House of Representatives joined the Senate in re-authorizing Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act for another four years, the Campaign for Reader Privacy promised to continue the fight to add reader privacy protections to the PATRIOT Act. The Campaign is not satisfied with the re-authorization bill that finally passed the House and the Senate, though some ground had been gained. The Campaign will support a bill introduced on Monday by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) that includes a number of civil liberties protections that were omitted from the re-authorization bill, including a provision that fixes Section 215.
The major disappointment in the re-authorization bill is its failure to narrow authority to search bookstore and library records to the records of people who are suspected of terrorism. Both the House and the Senate approved such a limitation. However, it was strongly opposed by the Bush administration, and, in the end, it was not included in the re-authorization bill. As a result, the FBI retains the authority under Section 215 to search any records that are “relevant” to a terrorism investigation.
For More Information visit ReaderPrivacy.org.
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