Support the Freedom to Read
Congress is hearing your message. Last week the House of Representatives passed important legislation that will limit the FBI’s power under the Patriot Act to get a secret court to demand your library and bookstore records without any reason to believe you were involved in a crime. This exciting development offers another clear example that many representatives now understand that the Patriot Act went too far and needs to be brought in line with the Constitution.
This is an important first step in reform of the Patriot Act and will help us achieve broader, comprehensive reforms of the secret searches and other intrusive Patriot Act powers in the days ahead. This positive step would not have been possible without your actions.
Now we need your help to ensure this important legislation passes the Senate!
The Patriot Act’s infamous Section 215 grants the FBI the power to seize a vast array of sensitive personal information and belongings including medical, library and business records using a secret intelligence court that does not require any suspicion of individual criminal activity. Although a court order is required to obtain these records, judges are compelled to issue them, making judicial review in this process nothing more than a rubber stamp.
Take action now to urge your senators to support proper checks and balances on overreaching government surveillance.
The FBI can use this new power to spy on innocent people. Those people forced by the FBI to provide this information -- whether a newspaper editor, librarian or website publisher -- could go to jail if they tell anybody anything about it.
The government has gone to great lengths to keep secret even the most basic information about the FBI's spying. For example, in answering questions posed by the House Judiciary Committee, then-Attorney General Ashcroft classified information that should not have been classified, including information that would have shown how often the FBI is spying on people based on their exercise of First Amendment rights.
Giving our government this kind of power to spy on innocent people is un-American. We need to build on our latest success and continue to push for much-needed reforms of the Patriot Act.
Click here to urge your senators to support important legislation to help bring the Patriot Act in line with the Constitution.
http://action.aclu.org/freedomtoread 
06-21-2005
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Baba Ahmed
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