Patriot Act Extended for One Year Without Change

ALA says outcome may offer time to achieve reforms

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 03/01/2010

• Climate in Washington has changed
• ALA: more time for negotiation
• ACLU dismayed

Three sections of the USA PATRIOT Act, reauthorized last week for one year, did not include any library-friendly amendments, but library advocates are optimistic that progress is possible.

Given the climate in Washington and concerns about terrorism, LJ reported in January that the American Library Association (ALA) was not optimistic about a library-friendly revision of the Patriot Act, notably an effort to tighten rules regarding “business records,” including those of libraries and bookstores.

Some reports have characterized the votes on a one-year extension as a “capitulation” by the Democrats to the Republicans and the White House—both of which wanted no amendments,” wrote Lynne Bradley, Director, ALA Office of Government Relations. “Yet others look at this as a smart tactical move because it gives more time for negotiations  to build up support again for the changes proposed this Fall by Senators [Russell] Feingold and [Dick] Durbin, Rep. [Jerrold] Nadler and others in both the Senate and House. Further, there is still a sunset in place, for just a year ‘so that we can live to fight another day’–as one Hill staffer put it.”

“While ALA lobbied for passage of the bipartisan bill in this Congress, it is apparent that there were far worse alternatives that could have proceeded—such as eliminating the sunsets or pulling out some requirements for reporting and oversight,” she wrote.

ACLU comment
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) commented:

With this extension, Congress failed to address proper privacy safeguards in the Patriot Act, including:
Amending the national security letter (NSL) statute to ensure that the government obtains financial, communication and credit records only of people believed to be terrorists or spies;
Requiring the government to convince a court that a national security gag order is necessary;
Terminating the "lone wolf" authority that permits the government to spy on people who are not part of a terrorist organization; and
Ensuring that the so-called "library records provision" does not authorize collection of library and bookstore records if they contain information on a patron unless he is a terrorist or spy.