Congress Attacks Patriot Act

All four bills seek to set limits on the federal government's ability to access information from libraries and booksellers. Senator Russ Feingold's (D-WI) Library, Bookseller, and Personal Records Privacy Act wants to restore a pre-Patriot Act mandate requiring that the FBI have reasonable documented information about a suspected terrorist before subpoenaing library and bookseller records. Meanwhile, the Protecting the Rights of Individuals Act, introduced by Senators Linda Murkowski (R-AK) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), seeks to extend those limits to include medical and other private records. Two almost identical bills, the Freedom to Read Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and the Library and Bookseller Protection Act by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), go even further by saying that under no circumstances can the FBI gain access to library or bookseller patron records under the Act's rules.

Emily Sheketoff, director of the American Library Association's Washington office, isn't optimistic that any of the four bills will pass any time soon because of Republican opposition.