|
Government Information Division -
SLA's newest division supports
information professionals working for the
government as well as others who are interested in learning about the
complexities of government information. To add
the Government Information Division to your
membership, contact SLA at
membership@sla.org or 703-647-4900. If you have questions about the Government Information Division,
please contact one of the co-chairs, Richard Huffine at
huffine.richard@epa.gov or John Butsch at
Butsch.John@dol.gov.
Current News l Local l Federal l Library & Information Policy Resources
Current News
Local
Federal
Patriot Act l
Patriot Act II and Spin-offs l Access To Government Information l Database Copyright Protection
Patriot Act
The
Patriot Act
passed six weeks after the September 11th attacks with no congressional
hearings. Many provisions in the Patriot Act ignited the activism of
librarians. Section 215 and 505 are two provisions that librarians regularly
refer to as infringing on the rights of their patrons.
Section 215
Section 215 gives the FBI the power to order any
person, institution or business to turnover any records for a person
suspected of international terrorism. This includes bank, education and
medical records along with library records of what books a person has
checked out and what websites he/she has accessed at the library.
The enforcement of section 215 also comes with a gag
order. Once an entity is served they can not inform anyone that their
institution is under surveillance.
The FBI has to appear in a FISA (Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act) court to obtain permission to execute section
215. A FISA court is a secret court in which only the government appears.
Depending on whom you ask, depends upon whether or not the government has to
establish probable cause or just say this person is suspected to be an
international terrorist.
Section 505
Section 505 expands national security letters. A
national security letter is an administrative subpoena that the FBI can
issue without authorization from a court to obtain third party information
such as medical, financial and library records. The FBI can also obtain
historical usage records for telephone and Internet access.
The gag order is also enforced under section 505.
Resources
*Linked with permission.
Patriot Act II and other spin-offs
The Domestic Security Enhancement Act (DSEA) dubbed
Patriot Act II was written by the Justice Department and brought to the
public’s attention by the Center for Public Integrity. DSEA expanded the
powers of the Patriot Act. The bill was never introduced into Congress and
the Justice Department shelved the legislation after a public outcry.
- The Center for Public Integrity’s
article provides background,
analysis and a full text copy of
Patriot Act II.
Since its demise, six bills have been introduced
into Congress that contain provisions from Patriot Act II:
-
HR 3179:
Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Tools Improvement Act of 2003
-
HR 3037:
Anti-Terrorism Tools Enhancement Act of 2003
-
HR 2934 and
S 1604:
Terrorist Penalties Enhancement Act of 2003
-
HR 3040 and
S 1606:
Pretrial Detention and Lifetime Supervision of Terrorists Act of 2003
Access to government information
Database Copyright Protection
On January 21, the House Judiciary committee
approved the
Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act, a
bill that would give more copyright protections to databases, which is
opposed by search companies Google and Yahoo, as well as libraries. Bill
supporters, including Reed Elsevier's LexisNexis and Thompson, say that such
protection is necessary to stop rivals from copying information from
proprietary databases.
- Read more about the bill at
ZDNet
Library & Information Policy Resources
Federal Government
Organizations
Policy websites
|
