Libraries Rally Against USA Patriot Actby Catherine Herridge and Liza Porteus
FOX News (website)
5/7/2003 PATERSON, N.J.—Librarians across the country are rising up against the USA
Patriot Act, shredding records and making other attempts to thwart the legal framework
in the war on terror.
Librarian Cindy Czesak is in the vanguard of the rebellion at the Paterson Public
Library in Paterson, N.J., a densely-populated Middle Eastern community.
"We're quiet rebels," she said.
Czesak, like hundreds of her fellow librarians around the country, says the Patriot
Act makes what people read and borrow from libraries fair game in the name of tracking
terrorists.
The Patriot Act, enacted in October 2001 in direct response to the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks that year, broadly expands the powers of federal law enforcement agencies
investigating cases involving foreign intelligence and international terrorism.
The measure requires local governments to disclose personal information—such
as library records—about certain people who may be connected to a terror investigation.
FBI agents can obtain a warrant for library or bookstore records of anyone thought
to be involved in a plot. Librarians then aren't allowed to discuss the investigation.
Powers to use wiretaps and label religious and political groups as terrorists
also were expanded under the act.
Under one provision of the law, the secret court that administers the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act can order businesses, including libraries, to hand
over records for terrorism investigations.
The FBI came to Czesak after Sept. 11 looking for information on two of the hijackers
who reportedly had used library computers. The library complied with the federal
subpoenas, but Czesak and some of her colleagues are now leery of the act.
FBI agents also seized two computers from a Delray Beach, Fla., library because
they thought some of the Sept. 11 hijackers used public computers there to communicate.
"The Patriot Act definitely scares me because we see it being carried to the
nth degree," Czesak said.
Justice Department officials say the librarians are misreading the Patriot Act.
They say it strengthens the government's ability to protect citizens from terrorists
who live and operate among us.
"I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding caused by disinformation or
misinformation that is out there in the American public," said Viet Dinh, assistant
attorney general for legal policy.
Dinh insists library records are not open books for investigators.
"The suspicions that the FBI bases its investigation on is derived from credible
investigative or intelligence sources," Dinh said.
Some provisions of the act—including the one covering libraries—expire
at the end of 2005 and will have to be renewed by Congress.
In the meantime, however, some librarians aren't going out of their way to cooperate.
Across the country, citizen councils have been passing resolutions opposing what
they consider to be the most infringing aspects of the law on people's civil liberties.
The Alameda County Library Advisory Commission in California recently approved
a resolution supporting a bill spearheaded by Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., that would
protect library users' personal information and library records obtained through
new government surveillance laws.
The Freedom to Read Protection Act of 2003, introduced in March, would exempt
bookstores and libraries from being subject to investigations without proper due
process and court procedure.
Warrants currently issued through the FISA court would have to be held to a different
standard. Sanders' bill would ensure proper evidence is presented when a warrant
is requested as to why the library or bookstore should be searched.
"One of the cornerstones of our democracy is the right of Americans to criticize
their government and to read printed materials without fear of government monitoring
and intrusion," Sanders said in a statement.
The bill also addresses the gag orders put on librarians and booksellers when
served a Patriot Act warrant and calls for increased accountability from the Justice
Department on how other sections of the Patriot Act are implemented.
The bill has more than 75 co-sponsors and Sanders will soon push the House Judiciary
Committee to tackle the measure.
"What we have seen so far in the few months since we've introduced this bill
is really an unprecedented amount of grassroots support," said Sanders spokesman
Joel Barkin.
Sanders' office has received numerous editorials from places such as Nashville,
Tenn., Los Angeles and Bangor, Maine, in support of the bill.
The bill is backed by groups like the American Booksellers Foundation for Free
Expression and the American Library Association.
"The Patriot Act gives federal authorities virtually unchecked authority to search
our customers' records and raises concern that government is monitoring what people
are reading," said ABFFE President Chris Finan. "The Freedom to Read Protection
Act will restore faith in the confidentiality of these records without harming national
security."
Some of California's Bay Area libraries have reportedly conducted privacy audits
of their computer systems and files. Others keep fewer records now than they did
before the law was enacted. Some even reportedly erase the caches on hard drives
or regularly shred computer use sign-up sheets.
Libraries in Santa Cruz, Calif., posted signs warning patrons that the FBI may
access the records of what books they borrow.
The Paterson Public Library in New Jersey is even getting rid of records like
computer sign-up sheets.
"After that it's removed and destroyed … we bought a nice new shredder," Czesak
said.
Librarians and other groups are also up-in-arms about what's being called "Patriot
Act II."
The companion legislation, dubbed "Son of Patriot," reportedly has been drafted
by Attorney General John Ashcroft's office, although no one will confirm that. The
Center for Public Integrity obtained a draft of the proposal.
Among other things, the plan says the government would be allowed to obtain credit
records and library records without a warrant.
"I think there's a lot of concern from both sides on this issue of the Patriot
Act and how far reaching the Patriot Act is and with rumors a Patriot Act II bubbling
around, I think people have paid special attention to this issue," Barkin said. Close |