Reader Response

March, 2005

Freedom to ReadIn "Book 'Em" (December), Patricia Schroeder explains how Section 215 of the Patriot Act threatens the privacy of bookstore and library records. We don't know whether the government is using its new power. It refuses to say, and booksellers and librarians are not allowed to reveal that they have received a Patriot Act order. We do know that law enforcement has attempted to obtain records in non-Patriot cases. Kenneth Starr got the ball rolling in 1998 when he subpoenaed...