Freedom To Read Protection Act

Rep. Sanders Brings Back Freedom to Read Protection ActJoined by members of organizations representing librarians, booksellers, publishers, and writers, Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced at a March 9 news conference that he will reintroduce the Freedom to Read Protection Act, which would exempt libraries and booksellers from provisions of the USA Patriot Act that allow the federal government to access records without a traditional search warrant.
“Section 215 and the USA Patriot Act must be seen in the context of a creeping erosion of our constitutional rights that little by little, bit by bit, is making us a less free nation,” Sanders said.
“In seeking to curb the overly broad provisions of Section 215, we are not trying to thwart government efforts to investigate terrorists,” noted ALA Washington Office Executive Director Emily Sheketoff. “However, we do not believe that the government needs unsupervised, secret powers to learn what ordinary Americans are reading.”
Sanders first introduced the Freedom to Read Protection Act in 2003 with the support of a bipartisan group of more than 150 cosponsors. After the bill did not come up for a vote, Sanders proposed a similar measure as an amendment to an appropriations bill in 2004; that effort was narrowly rejected in July 2004 when Republican leaders extended voting time and convinced some lawmakers to switch their votes.
Posted March 11, 2005.

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