ACLU Sues to Lift Gag on Connecticut Library

-- Library Journal, 08/29/2005

The American Civil Liberties Union has sued to lift the gag on a Connecticut library under investigation by the FBI, which has used a section of the USA PATRIOT Act to demand records. The ACLU wants its client—which was not identified, nor was the type of library specified to participate in the public debate about the Patriot Act as Congress prepares to reauthorize or amend it in the coming weeks. “Our client wants to tell the American public about the dangers of allowing the FBI to demand library records without court approval,” said ACLU Associate Legal Director Ann Beeson,

The lawsuit challenges the National Security Letter (NSL) provision of the Patriot Act, which authorizes the FBI to demand a range of personal records without court approval, such as the identity of a person who has visited a particular web site on a library computer, or who has engaged in anonymous speech on the Internet. The Patriot Act dramatically expands the NSL power by permitting the FBI to demand records of people who are not suspected of any wrongdoing, ACLU observed. The lawsuit, ACLU v. Gonzales, was filed on August 9, and is pending before Judge Janet Hall of the U.S. District Court in Bridgeport, CT. A hearing is set for August 31. Note that this does not refer to Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the most hotly-debated section, which relaxes standards for searches of business records, including library records.