<div dir="ltr"><div><a href="http://www.districtdispatch.org/2015/05/u-s-house-poised-to-pass-real-reforms-to-usa-patriot-act/">http://www.districtdispatch.org/2015/05/u-s-house-poised-to-pass-real-reforms-to-usa-patriot-act/</a></div><div><br></div><div><h1 itemtype="http://schema.org/Thing" itemscope="" itemprop="itemReviewed"><span itemprop="name">U.S. House poised to pass real reforms to USA PATRIOT Act</span></h1><p><span>Posted by: <a title="" href="http://www.districtdispatch.org/author/adameisgrau/"><font color="#4d84b3">Adam Eisgrau </font></a></span> <span>May 13, 2015</span> <span>in <a href="http://www.districtdispatch.org/category/privacy-surveillance/" rel="category tag"><font color="#4d84b3">Privacy & Surveillance</font></a></span> </p><div></div><div>Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act became, and remains, known as the “library provision” of that law because of intense and ongoing librarian opposition to the sweeping power it grants the government to compel libraries, without a probable cause-based search warrant, to divulge personal patron reading and internet usage records, and to the “gag orders” associated with Section 215 and “National Security Letters” (NSLs) that impede judicial and public oversight of such activity.<p></p><p>Tonight [5/13/15], the House of Representatives will vote on the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2048?q=%7b%22search%22%3A%5b%22USA+FREEDOM%22%5d%7d" target="_blank"><font color="#4d84b3">USA FREEDOM Act of 2015, H.R. 2048</font></a> to finally ban the “bulk collection” of Americans’ personal communications records (library, telephone and otherwise) under Section 215. Critically, it also would preclude the use of other surveillance laws (related to “PEN registers”) and NSLs to get around that prohibition and would bring the “gag order” provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act into compliance with the First Amendment by permitting them to be meaningfully challenged in court.</p><p>The bill, not incidentally, also permits phone and internet companies to publish information (in a sufficiently specific form to be useful) about the number of requests they receive from the government to produce personal subscriber information. It also, for the first time, would create opportunities for specially cleared civil liberties advocates to appear before the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court that authorizes surveillance activities. The bill also makes important “first step” reforms to privacy-hostile provisions, including Section 702, of the FISA Amendments Act.</p><p>ALA and its many public and private sector coalition partners strongly support passage of H.R. 2048. That message was underscored by the more than 400 librarian lobbyists who took to Capitol Hill on May 5, during the American Library Association’s (ALA) <a href="http://www.districtdispatch.org/2015/05/hundreds-to-gather-in-d-c-for-41st-annual-national-library-legislative-day/" target="_blank"><font color="#4d84b3">National Library Legislative Day</font></a>. They carried with them a stirring and emphatic OpEd urging real reform entitled “<a href="http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/240956-long-lines-for-freedom" target="_blank"><font color="#4d84b3">Long Lines for Freedom</font></a>” by ALA President Courtney Young, which was published that morning in The Hill, a Congress-centric newspaper widely read by Members of Congress, their staffs and the national press.</p><p>While House passage of the USA FREEDOM Act is widely expected, its fate in the Senate is uncertain at best. <a href="http://cqrcengage.com/ala/home" target="_blank"><font color="#4d84b3">Stay tuned for more on how you can help! </font></a></p></div></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.districtdispatch.org/2015/05/u-s-house-poised-to-pass-real-reforms-to-usa-patriot-act/">http://www.districtdispatch.org/2015/05/u-s-house-poised-to-pass-real-reforms-to-usa-patriot-act/</a><br clear="all"><br>-- <br></div><div class="gmail_signature"><div><em><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS";font-size:10pt">Diedre Conkling</span></em><i><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS";font-size:10pt"><br><em><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">Lincoln County Library District</span></em><br><em><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">P.O. Box 2027</span></em><br><em><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">Newport, OR 97365</span></em><br><em><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">Phone & Fax: 541-265-3066</span></em><br><em><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">Work email</span></em></span></i><em><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS";font-size:10pt;font-style:normal">: </span></em><a href="mailto:diedre@lincolncolibrarydist.org" target="_blank"><i><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS";font-size:10pt"><font color="#0000ff">diedre@lincolncolibrarydist.org</font></span></i></a><i><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS";font-size:10pt"><br><em><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">Home email: </span></em></span></i><a href="mailto:diedre08@gmail.com" target="_blank"><em><span style="color:blue;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";font-size:10pt">diedre08@gmail.com</span></em></a></div>
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<span>“If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.”―Maya Angelou</span><span></span></h6><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS";font-size:10pt"></span></div></div>
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