Senate Patriot Act Extension

It looks like the Patriot Act could end up being more protective of readers’ privacy. Four days before Christmas the Senate ended a filibuster and approved a six-month extension of the antiterrorism law, which had 16 major provisions that were set to expire December 31, 2005. Although the House cleared its version of the bill, Senate Democrats, joined by four Republicans, blocked its passage, claiming the House version didn’t do enough to protect civil liberties.

The Patriot Act, passed following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, vastly expanded the government’s investigative powers against suspected terrorists. Reauthorizing the House version of the law would have extended for four years two of the law’s most controversial provisions—the authorization of roving wiretaps and secret warrants for library and bookstore records. “[The six-month extension] is the best outcome we could possibly imagine,” says Emily Sheketoff, associate executive director of the American Library Association’s Washington, DC, office. “The Senate stood firm, and they refused to be bullied into accepting a law that was not good for America.”

One of the more objectionable provisions allows the FBI to issue “national security letters,” demanding that libraries turn over any data requested by investigators and remain silent about the request. The Justice Department has denied—but not corrected—press reports that the FBI has issued as many as 30,000 of these “letters” annually.