Library Challenges FBI Request

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http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082705Z.shtml

 

Library Challenges FBI Request

By Dan Eggen

The Washington Post

 

Friday 26 August 2005

 

Patriot Act prohibits details of lawsuit from being released.

 

A member of the American Library Association has sued the Justice

Department to challenge an FBI demand for records, but the USA Patriot

Act prohibits the plaintiff from publicly disclosing its identity or

other details of the dispute, according to court documents released

yesterday.

 

The lawsuit comes as Congress prepares to enter final talks over

renewal of the Patriot Act, a counterterrorism law that was

overwhelmingly approved after Sept. 11, 2001. But parts of the law,

including provisions that could have an impact on libraries, have

since come under fire.

 

Justice Department and FBI officials have repeatedly declined to

identify how many times Patriot Act-related powers have been used to

seek or obtain information from libraries, but they have strongly

urged Congress not to limit their ability to do so.

 

The suit, originally filed under seal in Connecticut on Aug. 9,

focuses on the FBI's use of a document called a " national security

letter " (NSL), which allows investigators to demand records without

the approval of a judge and to prohibit companies or institutions from

disclosing the request. Restrictions on the FBI's use of NSLs were

loosened under the Patriot Act.

 

The identity of the institution, the records being sought and

numerous other details are edited out of the public version of the

complaint released by the American Civil Liberties Union, which is a

party to the lawsuit.

 

But the edited lawsuit reveals that the plaintiff is a member of

the libraries association, that it provides " circulation and

cataloging of library materials, " and that it allows " library patrons

.. . . to search library collections and check the status of their

accounts. " The complaint also says the institution " provides Internet

access for use by staff and patrons " and that the FBI was seeking

" r information, billing information and access logs " related

to an unidentified target.

 

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse declined to comment

on the dispute because of the pending litigation.

 

ACLU lawyer Ann Beeson said the group is asking the court to lift

a gag order that has been imposed in the case and said the dispute is

directly relevant to the debate on Capitol Hill over the Patriot Act.

 

The House and Senate approved bills in July to renew or make

permanent 16 provisions of the Patriot Act set to expire at the end of

the year. Civil liberties groups are particularly opposed to the House

version, which, among other things, would allow those who violate a

gag order in connection with an NSL to be sentenced to as long as five

years in prison.

 

" The most immediate concern we have is that if Congress passes the

House version, our client could actually go to jail for participating

in the Patriot Act debate, " Beeson said.

 

Patrice McDermott of the American Library Association said the

lawsuit " shows what we've been saying all along: that the FBI is

indeed very interested in libraries. "

 

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said during Senate testimony

in April that the Justice Department " has no interest in rummaging

through the library records or medical records of Americans " but that

" libraries should not become safe havens " for terrorists or other

criminals.

 

Gonzales said at the time that the FBI had never asked for records

under a provision of the Patriot Act known by critics as the " library

provision, " which allows the government to demand records from a range

of businesses, including libraries, in intelligence probes.

 

But that provision is separate from the one that governs the kind

of letter used in the Connecticut case. Justice and FBI officials have

repeatedly declined to say how many times such letters have been

served on any kind of institution, including libraries.

 

Gonzales and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III have defended the

government's need to obtain records related to Internet use at public

libraries. FBI investigators found that some of the Sept. 11 hijackers

accessed the Internet at libraries in Florida and New Jersey.

 

The government is currently appealing a separate decision

involving the ACLU in New York, where a federal judge ruled in

September 2004 that the federal statute governing the use of national

security letters was unconstitutional.

 

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