ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


C&RL News ■ D ecem ber 2001 / 1123

W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n e Lynne E. Bradley

The USA Patriot Act
In barely six w eek s of activity, Congress final­
ized passage o f anti-terrorism legislation only 
modestly changed from that originally proposed 
by Attorney General John Ashcroft immediately 
following the terrorists’ attacks. W orking w ith 
our colleagues from  the Am erican Association 
of Law Libraries (AALL) a nd the Association of 
Research Libraries (ARL), ALA identified sev­
eral fundam ental areas of concerns in the draft 
legislation. T hese issues included: expansion 
of p e n  register and trap a nd trace devices to 
the Internet; expansion of access to business 
records; expansion o f access to  educational in­
stitution records; expansion o f the definition 
of terrorism; a n d  n e w  m andates for technol­
ogy-

During this entire period, ALA and o u r sis­
ter library associations w orked closely with the 
Center for D em ocracy a nd T echnology (CDT) 
a n d  th e  b ro a d  c o a litio n  o f o rg a n iz a tio n s 
brought together u n d e r the title o f “In Defense 
of Freedom ” Coalition (IDOF) by the ACLU. 
IDOF includes ACLU as w ell as Free Congress 
Foundation, Friends Committee on  National 
Legislation, G un Ow ners o f America, The Eagle 
Forum, the American Muslim Council, Ameri­
cans for Tax Reform, and m any o ther diverse 
groups.

O n October 2, ARL, AALL, and ALA released 
a joint public statement, signed by o u r respec­
tive governm ent relations staff, o n  each of our 
Web sites and subsequently all of o u r associa­
tions signed o nto the IDOF statement. Later 
the Medical Library Association also signed onto 
the library statem ent. View the statem ent at: 
http://w w w .ala.org/w ashoff/terrorism .pdf.

O n O ctober 3, the H ouse Judiciary Com­
mittee passed H.R. 2975 unanimously. Although 
there w ere som e am endm ents m ade during 
the m arkup, n o n e  w ere related to tw o of o ur 
chief concerns: business records (including li­
brary a n d  student records) a nd com puter tres­
passing.

O n O ctober 11, the Senate passed S. 1510. 
The next m orning the Senate bill language w as

Lynne E. Bradley is Office o f Government Relations director 
o f ALA's Washington Office; e-mail: leb@alawash.org

substituted for the original H ouse bill in a p ro ­
cedural m ove by the H ouse Rules Committee. 
With n o  opportunity to a d d  am endm ents or 
get o ther reconsiderations, the H ouse passed 
the “n e w ” (basically the Senate bill) H.R. 3108 
in a vote of 357 to 66 o n  O ctober 12. Many 
m em bers com plained a bout the unusual p ro ­
cess o r lack thereof. Changes in the final lan­
guage included a sunset o n  the electronic sur­
veillance a nd a provision for judicial oversight 
o f the use o f the FBI’s Carnivore system. Some 
observers are n ow  speculating w hether the lack 
of hearings or any o ther kind of public record 
will subject the law  to  legal challenges because 
o f lack o f a legislative history.

During the Senate proceedings, the library 
associations focused on  amendments proposed 
by Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin), subse­
quently offered during floor debate. Unfortunately, 
these amendments were defeated in a procedural 
move to table. The Senate passed S. 1510 in a 98 
to 1 vote late on  October 11. During floor debate 
on the business records and computer trespass 
amendments, key senators referenced the library 
issues in particular. In a procedural vote on  the 
business records amendment, 11 senators voted 
with Feingold, including Senator Alien Specter 
(R-Pennsylvania).

The next week, a conference committee met 
to negotiate the differences b etw een the Sen­
ate a n d  H ouse versions. T here w as n o  oppor- 
tunity to wiggle in som e o ther definition or 
report language to accom plish som e o f our 
objectives. President Bush signed the bill on  
O ctober 26.

ALA is n o w  w orking w ith outside legal ad­
visors to provide a systematic analysis o f the 
law. For exam ple, th e  section on  business 
records raises com plicated questions relative 
to state and other privacy laws. N ew  privacy 
provisions d o  not automatically preem pt exist­
ing state confidentiality laws regarding library 
records unless a n investigation is related to for­
eign intelligence and anti-terrorism investiga­
tions. In a related matter, w e are also address­
ing the “take-dow n” o f governm ent informa­
tion from  Web sites and the depository library 
programs. Watch for additional reports; there 
is m uch m ore to come. ■

http://www.ala.org/washoff/terrorism.pdf
mailto:leb@alawash.org