ALA Council: Patriot Act a Danger
-- Library Journal, 2/3/2003
Much of the work of American Library Association (ALA) Council proceeds with relatively little debate. But consistent with the challenges facing the nation, several issues during the 2003 ALA Midwinter Meeting generated heated discussion. For several days, ALA units, notably the Committee on Legislation and the Intellectual Freedom Committee, discussed the appropriate response to the USA Patriot Act. The sweeping provision of the act compromises privacy, they said, because it overrides state library confidentiality laws protecting library records and does not require law enforcement officials seeking records to demonstrate "probable cause" regarding a crime. Some favored calling for a repeal of the act's provisions relating to libraries, while others, heeding the counsel of some speakers at a Washington Office briefing, favored a more nuanced call for mitigation of the act.
Eventually the ALA Council rejected the harder line approach, voting 90-60 January 29 not to call for eliminating portions of the act. However, the resolution they then passed by a substantial majority did beef up the alternative approach. The lengthy resolution states that ALA considers sections of the act a president danger to the constitution and privacy rights of library users. It not only encourages librarians to defend user privacy, it also asks ALA to take action to obtain and publicize information about surveillance and assess the impact on libraries. It further urges Congress to provide active oversight of implementation of the act; hold hearings to determine the extent of the surveillance of library users and their communities; and amend or change the sections of those laws and the guidelines that threaten the rights of inquiry and free expression.
