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Free Expression

Media Coalition Files Amicus Brief Regarding Content-Based Tax

On Monday, members of the Media Coalition filed an amicus brief asking that the United States Supreme Court review a decision of the New York Court of Appeals that upheld a content-based tax on communication protected by the First Amendment.

CRP Urges: Act Now to Stop Warrantless Surveillance

The Campaign for Reader Privacy is urging its supporters to immediately call members of Congress to request support for the Amash amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill, which will be voted on either Wednesday or Thursday of this week. The amendent would bar the NSA from obtaining the telephone records of people who are not suspected of engaging in illegal acts.

BTW News Briefs

BISG to present first annual industry awards; More students seek illegal alternatives to textbooks; Media Coalition concludes gun violence and media connection flawed; Frommer’s to start releasing print titles; IPG and Trafalgar Square acquire new clients; 2014 BEA Global Market Forum to focus on books in translation; NCAC to host free speech benefit

Campaign for Reader Privacy Renews Call to Amend Patriot Act

The Campaign for Reader Privacy a joint initiative of ABA, ALA, AAP, and PEN American Center called on Congress this week to pass legislation to restore privacy protections for bookstore and library records that were stripped by the Patriot Act as a first step toward reining in what the group calls “runaway surveillance programs.”

Time to Debate the Patriot Act

Chris Finan, president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, discusses the debate on government surveillance and reformation of the Patriot Act –– especially as it pertains to booksellers.

BTW News Briefs

School ban on Perks of Being a Wallflower overturned; Where’s Waldo? hits a milestone; U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey appointed to second term

ABFFE Joins Protest Over NSA Spying

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression has joined the ACLU, the American Library Association, more than 80 civil liberties, government reform, and digital advocacy groups, and several companies in protesting the National Security Agency’s surveillance of the telephone records and Internet activity of American citizens.

Colorado Booksellers Defeat Censorship Law

A week after Colorado booksellers challenged a law restricting the display of magazines about marijuana, the State of Colorado agreed not to enforce the law. Lawyers for the state acknowledged that the law, which would have forced retailers to display any magazine that focuses on marijuana or marijuana businesses behind the counter, was unconstitutional.

Children’s Art Auctions Provide Crucial Support for ABFFE

Income from the online and live auctions of children’s book art held in conjunction with this year’s BEA increased by 50 percent over the previous year’s auction results. Proceeds from the auctions support ABFFE’s defense of the free speech rights of young readers.

Colorado Booksellers, ABFFE Challenge Display Restriction

Tattered Cover Book Store, Boulder Book Store, ABFFE, MPIBA, and several newsstands filed suit on Monday to block enforcement of a Colorado law that violates the First Amendment rights of retailers to display magazines that focus on marijuana and of customers to browse those publications.

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