[Web4lib] California Lib. Assoc. passes resolution on PATRIOT Act renewal

[amysonnie]

California Library Association Passes Resolution to Restore Civil Liberties:
USA PATRIOT Act
  

October 13, 2009 € SACRAMENTO, CA - The California Library Association (CLA)
has just announced a resolution calling on Congress to dramatically revise
the up-for-renewal USA PATRIOT Act, passed hurriedly in the weeks following
the 9/11 attacks.

 Librarians have been front-line opponents of certain provisions of the
PATRIOT Act since its passage. The Act has made it possible, under Section
215, for the FBI to request and obtain library records for large numbers of
individuals without reason to believe they are involved in illegal activity.
This jeopardizes the basic ethics of the library profession, expressed in
the Library Bill of Rights of the American Library Association.

Expanding on the American Library Association's PATRIOT Act resolution last
July, the CLA resolution goes further to address imminent First and Fourth
Amendment concerns with Section 505. This provision grants the FBI broad
authority to sidestep constitutional safeguards though use of National
Security Letters to obtain information.

 CLA Intellectual Freedom Committee chair, Mary Minow, a leading expert on
library law, said, "It's past time for the blatantly unconstitutional
aspects of this legislation to be removed from the books, and now is the
opportunity for Congress to act."

 Two sections of the PATRIOT Act are currently up for reauthorization, with
sunsets at the end of December 2009, and librarians across the country see
this as an opportunity to correct those provisions that attack basic civil
liberties. CLA's resolution calls for Congress to allow Section 215 to
sunset, to amend Section 505 to "include a clear exemption for library
records," and in general to intensify Congressional oversight of the use of
the Act. 
* CLA Resolution on 2009 Reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act
<http://www.cla-net.org/included/docs/CLA_USAPA09_ResolutionFinal.pdf>
(481k) 

For more information, please contact:

Mary Minow, Chair, 
CLA Intellectual Freedom Committee
408-366-0123

Amy Sonnie, Member,
CLA Intellectual Freedom Committee,
415-823-0497 or cla_ifc at earthlink.net