Campaign for Reader Privacy Urges Last-Minute Calls to Congress

ABA and its co-sponsors in the Campaign for Reader Privacy -- the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers, and PEN American Center -- today warned that final action on the reauthorization of the Patriot Act could come only days after Congress returns from its August recess. Urging their members to continue to pressure their representatives in the House and Senate to restore the safeguards for the privacy of bookstore and library records, the groups were responding to reports that President Bush hopes to sign the reauthorization act on the fourth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

The Campaign for Reader Privacy urged supporters to ask their House representatives to consider adding their names to a letter that Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is circulating that calls on the conferees who will reconcile the House and Senate versions of the re-authorization bill to adopt the provisions of the Senate bill, S. 1389. The Sanders letter, which is co-authored by Representatives C.L. "Butch" Otter (R-ID), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Ron Paul (R-TX), and Tom Udall (D-NM), says, in part, "We believe that the changes in S. 1389 provide greater safeguards to Americans' library and bookstore records and reflect the desire of a majority of House members, who voted 238-187 on June 15th to provide greater privacy protections for readers." (For a related article in this week's BTW, go to news.bookweb.org/read/3729.)

The Campaign is also urging its supporters to contact the members of the Senate who have been chosen as conferees on the re-authorization bill. They are Arlen Specter (R-PA), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Michael DeWine (R-OH), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), and Carl Levin (D-MI). The House has not chosen conferees yet.

Contact information for House members can be found at www.house.gov/writerep/ and for members of the Senate at www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

For more information about the Campaign for Reader Privacy, go to www.bookweb.org/read/7679.