Colleagues:
This just in from ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799)-- a free, irregular publication
of the
American Library Association Washington Office:
USA PATRIOT Act Language not in Omnibus Bill
ALA and other organizations working on the provision of the USA
PATRIOT
Act that infringe civil liberties and privacy were not successful in
getting
language into the Commerce, Justice, State appropriations bill and, thus,
not
into the Omnibus bill. The issues will be taken up again in the 2004
session.
A provision was added to the conference language of the Intelligence
Authorization Act for FY 2004 that expands the National Security
letter
authority of the FBI to obtain confidential financial records from
a
greatly expanded number of entities. The FBI can now use National
Security
Letters, NSLs, which do not require approval by a court, grand jury,
or
prosecuting attorney, to demand confidential financial records from car
dealers,
pawn brokers, travel and real estate agents, and other businesses, and
to
prohibit the business from disclosing that the records have been sought
or
obtained.
While this particular expansion of this authority does not have
bearing
on library records, it is a clear example of the intent of the
Administration to
expand the scope of the USA PATRIOT Act, and to limit the
government's
accountability to Congress, the judicial branch and the public.
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D. Vanessa Kam
Associate Art Librarian
Art and Architecture Library
Cummings Art Building, Main Floor
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-2018
(650) 725-1038