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2004
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- Civil
Liberties - Connecticut
- "Suit
Seeks to Bar FBI Library Data Access." ... "The American
Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit to block the FBI from obtaining
records from an organization possessing information about library patrons."
... "The civil liberties advocacy group released a government-censored
version of the lawsuit Thursday. The case originally was filed under seal
Aug. 9 in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport, Conn. [Connecticut], because
the law under which the FBI acted bars the organization or its attorneys
from "disclosing to any person" that the FBI has demanded information."
... "ACLU Associate Legal Director Anne Beeson said the FBI and Justice
Department had censored the document and allowed release of that version."
-By Michael J. Sniffen
-AP via -LAtimes
CA
-
- Archives
- John
Roberts
-
- Secrets
- 
- "Roberts
Showed Conservative Stripes Early." ... ""While some
of the tales of woe emanating from the Court are enough to bring tears
to the eyes, it is true that only Supreme Court justices and schoolchildren
are expected to and do take the entire summer off," Roberts wrote on April
19, 1983, in a memo to Fielding, his boss at the time." ... "He went on
to say: "The generally accepted notion that the Court can only hear roughly
150 cases a year gives the same sense of reassurance as the adjournment
of the court in July, when we know the Constitution is safe for the summer.""
... "The memo and other materials made public Thursday by the Ronald Reagan
Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., and the National Archives
completed the disclosure of more than 50,000 pages that cover Roberts'
tenure as a lawyer in the White House counsel's office from 1982-86." ...
"Nearly 2,000 more pages from the same period have been withheld on national
security or privacy grounds." (1, 2)
-By Jesse J. Holland with contributions by Jesse J.
Holland and Andrew Taylor -AP
via -WashingtonPost
John
G. Roberts Jr.
- 
-
-
- Archives
- "Bush
Order Lets Him Control Roberts' Memos: A 2001 decree
gives him the power to block the release of papers from presidential libraries,
among them those of the high court nominee." ... "A little-noticed order
issued by President Bush almost four years ago gives White House lawyers
the right to block the release of memos written by Supreme Court nominee
John G. Roberts Jr. when he worked for President Reagan." ... "The order,
signed by Bush in November 2001, said the "incumbent president" had the
right to approve the release of papers from the presidential libraries
of his father, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan." ... "It set off a
furor at the time among historians, archivists and librarians. They said
it all but repealed the Presidential Records Act, a 1978 law that decreed
a president's records were public property, not the private property of
the former president. Under this law, a former president's papers were
to be opened to the public 12 years after he left office. Exceptions could
be made for national security reasons." (1, 2)
-By David G. Savage and Maura Reynolds with contributions
by Catherine Sailliant
-LAtimes
-
- 
-
- -
- Civil
Liberties - "House
defies Bush, votes to repeal part of Patriot Act:
Book-reading probes would be banned." ... "The Republican-led House bucked
President Bush on Wednesday by voting to upend the Patriot Act provision
that allows federal agents to examine people's book-reading habits at public
libraries and bookstores as part of terrorism investigations." ... "The
238-187 vote might be only a temporary victory for librarians, booksellers
and civil libertarians who had opposed the controversial provision of the
2001 law as a threat to privacy rights." ... "The White House issued a
statement threatening to veto the appropriations bill if its final version
contains any language that weakens the Patriot Act. It's also unclear how
the Senate will deal with the library provision." -By
Edward Epstein -SFGate.com
- 
- 
-
- Consumer
- Telecom
- Civil
Liberties - "Court
Blocks TV Anti-Piracy Technology Rules." ... "A federal
appeals court handed a major setback to Hollywood and the networks today
when it struck down an anti-piracy regulation that required computer and
television makers to use new technology making it difficult for consumers
to copy and distribute digital programs." ... "The unanimous ruling by
the three-judge panel in an important intellectual property case was a
stinging rebuke to the Federal Communications Commission and a big victory
for libraries, consumer groups and civil liberties organizations. They
had maintained that the regulation, known as the "broadcast flag rule,"
would stifle innovation in technology and make it more difficult for consumers
and users of library services to legitimately circulate material." -By
Stephen Labaton -NYTimes
-
- Alabama
- "Alabama
Bill Targets Gay Authors." ... "Republican Alabama
lawmaker Gerald Allen says homosexuality is an unacceptable lifestyle.
As CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann reports, under his bill,
public school libraries could no longer buy new copies of plays or books
by gay authors, or about gay characters." ... ""I don't look at it as censorship,"
says State Representative Gerald Allen. "I look at it as protecting the
hearts and souls and minds of our children.""
-CBSNews
-
-
- "Long-awaited
Lincoln museum opens." ... "Opening the Abraham Lincoln
library and museum [in Springfield, Illinois], President Bush said Tuesday
that its mix of showmanship and scholarship should help generations rediscover
the 16th president whose commitment to freedom for all embodies "the meaning
and promise of America." ... "The dedication of the museum portion of the
state-of-the-art showplace capped 25 years of effort. The $145 million
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, with 40,000 square feet
of understated architecture, is designed to generate new interest in Lincoln
and explain his life and legacy. The library portion opened last October.
(Related story: Lincoln's
spirit lives in new museum)"" -AP
via -USATODAY
- 
-
-
- Archives
- "The Archivist:
Brewster Kahle made a copy of the Internet. Now, he wants your files."
... "I'm a few minutes late for lunch at the Internet
Archive, but they know what kept me. The view of San Francisco Bay
[California] outside the archive's digs at the Presidio
is captivating even if you already live here." ... "Search-engine wiz and
dot-com multimillionaire Brewster
Kahle founded the archive here in 1996 with a dream as big as the bridge:
He wanted to back up the Internet. There were only 50 million or so URLs
back then, so the idea only seemed half-crazy. As the Web ballooned to
more than 10 billion pages, the archive's main server farm—hidden across
town in a data
center beneath the city's other big bridge—grew to hold a half-million
gigabytes of compressed and indexed pages." ... "Kahle is less the Internet's
crazy aunt—the tycoon who can't stand to throw anything away—than its evangelical
librarian." -By Paul Boutin
-Slate
-
-
- 
- - Archives
- Secrets
- "Guarding
the Past: The Archivist's Mild Manner Belies the
Uproar Over His New Job." ... "They're: Sniping at Allen Weinstein from
ivory towers." ... "Suggesting he could become an accomplice in presidential
coverups." ... "Many historians are wondering if Weinstein will make sure
that the [National] Archives' documents of great historical value -- especially
supersensitive presidential papers -- are open and available to all scholars
or if he will engage in some sort of politically motivated subterfuge."
... "A host of historians are also disturbed by the way that Weinstein
got his job in the first place. In a surprising move, Weinstein was chosen
last spring while John Carlin -- a Clinton appointee and a former governor
of Kansas -- was still in office. Nearly two dozen professional organizations,
including the American Historical Association, cried foul. The groups worried
about "the politicization of the office," [history professor Jon] Wiener
says." ... ""My concern was about the process being subverted," says Bruce
Craig of the National Coalition for History, an advocacy group for the
profession. "There is a law." The 1984 law, which created the National
Archives and Records Administration, stipulated that the archivist will
serve an indefinite term and can be removed only if the president gives
a reason to Congress." ... "So far, President Bush has not given any reason
for Carlin's dismissal and Weinstein's appointment." ... "Some historians
suggest the ouster occured because Bush believed he might lose the 2004
election and was concerned that his father's presidential papers -- and
his own -- could fall into unfriendly hands. "All presidents want their
secrets protected," Wiener says. "It's the archivist who is in the middle.""
(1, 2,
3,
4)
-By Linton Weeks -WashingtonPost
- "ALA
denounces Supreme Court ruling on Children's Internet Protection Act."
... "The American Library Association (ALA) today expressed disappointment
in today's very narrow decision from the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the
Children's Internet Protection Act." ... ""The decision, however, is very
narrow in that Justices Kennedy and Breyer did not join Chief Justice Rehnquist's
opinion, they only joined the judgment," said Judith Krug, director of
the American Library Association s Office for Intellectual Freedom.
"Justices Kennedy and Breyer joined the judgment because they believe adult
patrons need only ask the librarian to please disable the filter
and need not provide any reason for the request. In light of this,
we expect libraries that decide they must accept filters to inform their
patrons how easily the filters can be turned off."" ... "Justice Kennedy's
opinion requires that filtering companies create filters that can be immediately
and easily dismantled to meet the information needs of library users."
... "The American Library Association again calls for full disclosure of
what sites filtering companies are blocking, who is deciding what is filtered
and what criteria are being used. Findings of fact clearly show that
filtering companies are not following legal definitions of "harmful to
minors" and "obscenity." Their practices must change." ... "To assist
local libraries in their decision process, the ALA will seek this information
from filtering companies, then evaluate and share the information with
the thousands of libraries now being forced to forego funds or choose faulty
filters. The American Library Association also will explain how various
products work, criteria to consider in selecting a products and how to
best use a given product in a public setting. Library
users must be able to see what sites are being blocked and, if needed,
be able to request the filter be disabled with the least intrusion into
their privacy and the least burden on library service." ... "The ALA will
do everything possible to support the governing bodies of these local institutions
as they struggle with this very difficult decision." -ALA.org
- American Library Association -ALA.org/oif
- Office for Intellectual Freedom
- "Supreme
Court upholds use of Internet filters in public libraries."
... "A divided Supreme Court ruled today that Congress can force the nation's
public libraries to equip computers with anti-pornography filters." ...
"The blocking technology, intended to keep smut from children, does not
violate the First Amendment even though it shuts off some legitimate, informational
Web sites, the court held." ... "The court said because libraries can disable
the filters for any patrons who ask, the system is not too burdensome.
The 6-3 ruling reinstates a law that told libraries to install filters
or surrender federal money. Four justices said the law was constitutional,
and two others said it was allowable as long as patrons were not denied
Internet access." -By Gina Holland
-AP via -StarTribune.com
- 
-
- "Right
to Read: Librarians, Booksellers Take on Feds
Over Patriot Act Provisions." ... "The threat, according to booksellers
and librarians, comes from the federal government and a provision of the
USA Patriot Act in Section 215 that authorizes the FBI to obtain "certain
business records" based on warrants from secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act courts, which under changes instituted by USA Patriot do not require
that the government show probable cause." ... "The law, passed by Congress
less than two months after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, also makes
it illegal for a business — including libraries or bookstores — whose client
records are demanded to tell anyone about it, even the person whose purchase
or borrowing records are demanded." -By Dean Schabner
-ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- 
- "Reconstruction
time again: Burned libraries make Iraq's history
a war casualty." ... "According to news reports, the burned libraries (with
contents described by [Islamic art bibliographer for Harvard's Fine Arts
Library, Andras] Riedlmayer) include:" ... "•
The Awqaf Library (Library of the Ministry of Religious Endowments), which
contained 8,500 Islamic manuscript codices (an ancient type of book) in
Arabic, as well as hundreds of manuscripts in Persian and Ottoman Turkish.
It also contained ancient illuminated Korans. Its oldest work was a scriptural
commentary by the ninth-century scholar Ibn Qutayba, copied in 1079." ...
"•
The National Library of Iraq and National Centre for Archives, known as
the House of Wisdom, comparable to the US Library of Congress. It held
417,000 books, 2,618 periodicals from the late Ottoman era and modern times,
and a collection of 4,412 rare books and manuscripts." ... "Also looted,
if not burned, were the University of Mosul library, which had 890,000
volumes, including many rare books and manuscripts, and the University
of Basra library, with 190,000 volumes and 700 manuscripts." -By
David Mehegan -Boston/Globe
-
-
-
- "Local
Officials Rise Up to Defy The Patriot Act." ... "This
little city [Arcata, California] (pop.: 16,000) has become the first in
the nation to pass an ordinance that outlaws voluntary compliance with
the Patriot Act." ... "The Arcata ordinance may be the first, but it may
not be the last. Across the country, citizens have been forming Bill of
Rights defense committees to fight what they consider the most egregious
curbs on liberties contained in the Patriot Act. The 342-page act, passed
by Congress one month after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, with
little input from a public still in shock, has been most publicly criticized
by librarians and bookstore owners for the provisions that force them to
secretly hand over information about a patron's reading and Internet habits.
But citizens groups are becoming increasingly organized and forceful in
rebuking the Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Act for giving the federal
government too much power, especially since a draft of the Justice Department's
proposed sequel to the Patriot Act (dubbed Patriot II) was publicly leaked
in January." -By Evelyn Nieves-WashingtonPost
-
- 
- "Web
porn filters go to high court: Case to decide
whether use in libraries violates freedom of speech." ... "Software filters
that Congress wants public libraries to install on computers may protect
children from pornography on the Internet, but they also block large quantities
of information on subjects ranging from health to politics to gays and
lesbians." ... "According to court filings, libraries provide Internet
access to 10 percent of the 143 million Americans who use the Web, and
to a larger share of the nation's poor." -By Bob Egelko
-SFGate.com
-
-
- "Justices
Hear Arguments on Internet Filtering Law." ... "The
American Library Association and other groups are challenging the Children's
Internet Protection Act, or CIPA, a law that threatens public schools and
libraries with the loss of federal technology funding if they fail to install
filtering software." ... "President Clinton signed CIPA in 2000, but a
three-judge federal court panel in May 2002 froze the law after the American
Library Association and other civil liberties groups complained that the
law violates free speech rights. The Bush administration then asked the
Supreme Court to review the case." (1, 2)
-Compiled by Robert MacMillan-
