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Reader Privacy Supporters Going to Congress
Fighting to amend the Patriot Act's provision that allows law enforcement to learn what you read in libraries and buy in bookstores.
The Campaign for Reader Privacy to restore the reader privacy safeguards that were eliminated by the USA PATRIOT Act will soon deliver their petitions to Congress.In two weeks, the Reader Privacy petitions will be presented to U.S. Representative Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and other members of Congress who are fighting to amend section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act. In a major press event, author Salman Rushdie (President of PEN), former U.S. Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder (President of the Association of American Publishers), Mitchell Kaplan (President of the American Booksellers Association), and Carla Hayden (past President of the American Library Association) will convey the concerns of writers, publishers, booksellers, librarians, and readers across the country about government intrusion into bookstore and library records and request a full Congressional review of how section 215 is affecting the freedom to read.
So far, the Campaign for Reader Privacy has collected more that 170,000 signatures since it was launched in February. On July 8, 210 members of the House of Representatives voted for the Freedom to Read Amendment, a bill that would have banned the Justice Department from using the secret warrants available under section 215 to search bookstore and library records. The Amendment would have passed if House leaders had not held the vote open until they could persuade a handful of members to switch their votes. Although that battle was lost, the vote clearly showed that support for amending section 215 is growing.
To build on this momentum, and to make the biggest impact possible when they meet with Congress on September 29, the Campaign for Reader Privacy is hoping to collect 100,000 more signatures for the Reader Privacy petition in the next two weeks. Visit www.readerprivacy.com to sign the on-line petition.