FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For information contact: Oren Teicher (ABA), 800-637-0037, ext. 1267 Larry Siems (PEN), 212-334-1660 ext. 105 Judith Platt (AAP), 202-220-4551 Bernadette Murphy (ALA), (202) 628-8410 ext. 8236
New York, NY, Dec. 12, 2005—Organizations representing booksellers, librarians, publishers, and writers today urged their members to support an expected filibuster in the U.S. Senate that will attempt to block a bill that reauthorizes expiring sections of the USA PATRIOT Act without providing a key protection for the privacy of bookstore and library records. After weeks of negotiating over differences between the House and Senate versions of the reauthorization legislation, a conference committee has reported a bill that does not limit bookstore and library searches to the records of people who are suspected of terrorism. As a result, the FBI would continue to have the power to search the records of anyone, even individuals not suspected of any crime, if it asserts the records are “relevant” to a terrorism investigation.
Six members of the Senate have announced that they will filibuster the conference report when it is brought to the floor this week. Senators Russell Feingold (D-WI), Larry Craig (R-ID), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Ken Salazar (D-CO), and John Sununu (R-NH) are urging their colleagues to vote instead for a bill that would give the Congress time to fix the legislation by extending the expiring sections of the PATRIOT Act for three months.
Click here to read the full article.
For information contact: Oren Teicher (ABA), 800-637-0037, ext. 1267 Larry Siems (PEN), 212-334-1660 ext. 105 Judith Platt (AAP), 202-220-4551 Bernadette Murphy (ALA), (202) 628-8410 ext. 8236
New York, NY, Dec. 12, 2005—Organizations representing booksellers, librarians, publishers, and writers today urged their members to support an expected filibuster in the U.S. Senate that will attempt to block a bill that reauthorizes expiring sections of the USA PATRIOT Act without providing a key protection for the privacy of bookstore and library records. After weeks of negotiating over differences between the House and Senate versions of the reauthorization legislation, a conference committee has reported a bill that does not limit bookstore and library searches to the records of people who are suspected of terrorism. As a result, the FBI would continue to have the power to search the records of anyone, even individuals not suspected of any crime, if it asserts the records are “relevant” to a terrorism investigation.
Six members of the Senate have announced that they will filibuster the conference report when it is brought to the floor this week. Senators Russell Feingold (D-WI), Larry Craig (R-ID), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Ken Salazar (D-CO), and John Sununu (R-NH) are urging their colleagues to vote instead for a bill that would give the Congress time to fix the legislation by extending the expiring sections of the PATRIOT Act for three months.
Click here to read the full article.