USA PATRIOT Act IFC Update
Presented as part of the 11-17-2003 CLA IFC Issues Update program, "Go Ahead and Worry"
Overview: Remember to spell it in ALL CAPS, so it doesn't look like you're using the word "Patriot" but rather emphasize the fact that it's an acronym. Reaction to the Act has raised awareness nationally of librarians as civil liberties advocates, and has put Intellectual Freedom in the spotlight.
What has CLA IFC done?
--Drafted a resolution taking a stand on the Act and other homeland security acts which was approved by the CLA Assembly and which has served as a model for the resolutions of other state associations and for ALA as well.
--Partnered with Southern California ACLU to create the libraryprivacy.org website, and the posters and bookmarks on the need for library privacy.
--Presented forums with Rep. Bernie Sanders on his Freedom to Read Act.
What's On the Horizon?
--A huge variety of pending legislation that is meant to ameliorate or modify the Act. See http://www.bordc.org/legislation.htm.
--PATRIOT II: current strategy seems to be that portions of the followup Act, which will increase the government's powers even more, are being placed into other legislation, making it much harder to track, rather than trying to get the followup act passed as a discrete body of legislation.
How Can We Stay Current?
--IFC has set up a blog in order to post updates: http://calfreedom.bluehighways.com (But if you're reading this, you probably know that....)
--Websites to pay attention to:
http://www.librarylaw.com/ (Mary Minow's site)
http://www.cdt.org/ (Center for Democracy and Technology)
http://www.bordc.org/ (Bill of Rights Defense Committee)
http://lii.org/search/patriotact (Librarians' Index to the Internet: Patriot Act Resources)
http://www.llrx.com/ (Legal site for librarians and others)
And, to pay attention to the government side: http://www.lifeandliberty.gov (DOJ website on the Act)
What Do You Need from the IFC?
Let us know!! (Examples: model privacy policies; how to respond to warrants; bulletins for current awareness...)
Interesting about the acronym, because the Times almost immediately "normalized" case for it; I even wrote to ask them if that was a typo. I agree, remind people of the stupid acronym and don't confuse this cynical law with patriotism!
Posted by: K. G. Schneider at November 18, 2003 04:20 PMThank you for all of the resources in one compact post.
I shouldn't ask, but do you know if other state associations have compiled a similar list of UPA resources? Also, are there plans to turn this into a portal, akin to ALA's and SLA's UPA pages?
Posted by: Eli at November 19, 2003 04:50 PMThanks for the comment. I don't know if other State associations have posted listings of PATRIOT act info--I could go check. And our purpose with this blog is to try to model a means of having specific committee info available via the web, prior to CLA coming up with a policy on web editorial content for committees. Karen--do we have a plan to turn this into a portal, as Eli asks?
Posted by: David Dodd at November 24, 2003 09:56 AMSome major provisions of PATRIOT II are finding their way into law. See the Library Autonomous Zone's posting at http://gort.ucsd.edu/mtdocs/archives/laz/001168.html
"Bush signs parts of PATRIOT ACT II into law--stealthily."
thanks for your site and keep it up.
Posted by: lebenslauf at January 15, 2004 02:58 PMSee the newly-inaugurated website promoting the SAFE Act: http://www.readerprivacy.com/
Posted by: David Dodd at February 18, 2004 02:32 PM