Libraries and the Patriot Act
Many people, including lawyers, are not aware of the changes the Patriot Act (2001 edition) made in increasing the Government's power to access business records--including those of readers at the public library.
What most lawyers and members of the public may not realize -- but what librarians have to live with every day -- is that § 215 of the Patriot Act actually incorporates and extends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. The act now allows the FBI to make searches of libraries for readers' records. It further states, "No person shall disclose to any other person ... that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has sought or obtained tangible things under this section."Here is Section 215 of the Patriot Act:While FISA, with its secret intelligence courts, previously gave the FBI the power to execute search-and-gag orders, it was always within the context of foreign counterintelligence, and thus rarely used. "The gag provision was understandable and manageable because it was fairly narrowly applied," Barber says.
The Patriot Act extends FISA's powers to any criminal activity, and has made New Jersey librarians some of the most cautious people in the country."
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