"John Doe challenges PATRIOT Act gag order"

[dbeach]

I LUV LIBRARIANS

http://www.vermontguardian.com/dailies/092005/0927.shtml

John Doe challenges PATRIOT Act gag order
BRIDGEPORT, CT — In August, a Connecticut library organization was served with a national security letter demanding sensitive information about patrons, including borrowed materials and Internet use. And since the USA PATRIOT Act says that anyone who receives such a letter is prohibited from ever telling anyone about the demand, this organization is known only as John Doe.

Nevertheless, Doe decided to challenge the secret letter in court, and on Sept. 9 U.S. District Court Judge Janet Hall said the gag order violates the First Amendment. "John Doe" has a First Amendment right to engage in the "current and lively debate in this country over the renewal of the PATRIOT Act," she ruled. An appeal by the government is expected.

According to a column in the Hartford Courant by Christine Bradley, director of the Connecticut Library Consortium, librarians are “concerned about the disastrous effect of the PATRIOT Act on their professional responsibility to protect the privacy of patrons.” Debate over its re-authorization is underway in Congress.



Bradley predicts that “these brave Connecticut Yankees will show lawmakers that the way to be a patriot is to protect civil liberties. Librarians, booksellers and others are concerned about the Fourth Amendment's guarantee against unreasonable search and seizure, and the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech.”

[Hubert Flottz]

1. John Doe is a patriot!

The terrorists are the ones who dreamed up the Patriot Act!