ABFFE Urges Senate to Strengthen USA Freedom Act

ABFFE has joined other civil liberties groups in urging the Senate to strengthen the USA Freedom Act, a bill that would restore safeguards for privacy, including the privacy of bookstore and library records, that were eliminated by the Patriot Act in 2001.  As introduced, the Freedom Act restricted government searches to the records of people who are suspected of terrorism or espionage.  However, the House weakened these privacy protections before passing the bill last month.  ABFFE endorsed a letter sent to Senate leaders that urges significant improvements to the bill.

Edward J. Snowden revealed that the government is collecting information about every phone call made in the United States.  The Freedom Act’s sponsors want to end the “bulk collection” of information about Americans who are not suspected of crimes.  But the bill’s restriction has been undermined by an amendment that could be read to authorize collection of the records of millions of innocent Americans.  The House bill also weakened privacy by dropping measures that are needed to ensure that the government isn’t abusing its surveillance power.

It is possible the Senate will consider the Freedom Act before its August recess.  For more background, read Chris Finan’s recent column in Bookselling This Week.