Free Expression

Good evening, my name is Oren Teicher. In addition to being a lifetime resident of Westchester County, I am the COO of the ABA, the national trade group for America's independent retail bookstores, whose national headquarters, as some of you know, is located in Tarrytown.

With Banned Books Week, the national celebration of First Amendment rights, just over two weeks away, booksellers are being encouraged to take advantage of the event to educate the public about the importance of protecting bookstore and library privacy, particularly since the passage of the USA Patriot Act in October 2001.

The final days of the Campaign for Reader Privacy petition drive are drawing near. Participating booksellers should remember that in order for the signatures they have collected to be counted all signed petitions must be sent by September 20 to ABA, Restore Reader Privacy, Attn.: Oren Teicher, 828 S. Broadway, Tarrytown, NY 10591. Of course, until that time, ABA is urging booksellers to keep collecting signatures!

The arrival of September marks the final weeks of the Campaign for Reader Privacy petition drive, and ABA is urging booksellers to make one last push to collect the maximum number of customer signatures.

With the final phase of the Campaign for Reader Privacy (www.readerprivacy.com) nearing, ABA is encouraging all booksellers to intensify their efforts to collect signatures for the grassroots petition drive to amend Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act.

The following op-ed piece was written by ABA COO Oren Teicher and appeared in the August 9 edition of Newsday.

By Oren J. Teicher

We thought we had won.

Catherine Price of Norwich Bookstore in Norwich, Vermont, called Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act -- a provision that gives the FBI broad authority to search bookstore and library records -- "a form of censorship -- subtle, but censorship nonetheless…. It could inhibit people from reading books they might want to read."

Banned Books Week, the national celebration of First Amendment rights, now in its 23rd year, will be held from September 25 - October 2.

Although Vermont Rep. Bernie Sanders' (I) Freedom to Read Amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State (CJS) Appropriations Bill was recently voted down, support for the Freedom to Read Protection Act (H.R. 1157) continues to grow, with six new sponsors signing on in the wake of the amendment's defeat. Democrats Robert Brady (PA), Chaka Fattah (PA), Gene Green (TX), Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ), Robert C. Scott (VA), and Gene Taylor (MS) are the newest sponsors of H.R. 1157, which now has a total of 151 co-sponsors, including 15 Republicans.