”Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11”
A. Basic Rights Of All Peoples Under U.S. Jurisdiction
- Right Not To Be Killed Or Disappeared
- Right Not To Be Tortured
- Right Peaceably To Assemble And Petition The Government
- Right To Equal Protection Regardless Of Race Or National Origin
- Right To Equal Protection For Women
- Right To Free Exercise Of Religion
- Right Of The Media To Report Facts, And Not Be Killed
- Right To Privacy From Surveillance
- Right Of Libraries Not To Report On Readers
- Right Of Universities To Accept Foreign Scholars And Students
- Right To Travel
9. Right Of Libraries Not To Report On Readers
The Patriot Act expanded the FBI’s authority to obtain people’s records. Section 215 lets the FBI seize any record of any entity, including libraries and bookstores, without proving the person whose records are being sought was involved in terrorism.
Section 215 allows the FBI to obtain whole databases, including records of citizens not suspected of any wrongdoing, and forbids anyone to say their records were searched.
By October 2002, the FBI had visited 178 libraries to ask for their records. Many found ways to object, relying on the constitutional right to read involved in freedom of the press, the right to privacy, and ICCPR arts. 17-19.
FBI and Homeland Security Checking Out Library Patrons
(James Ridgeway, "FBI Snoops at Libraries," Refuse and Resist, April 8th, 2003, http://www.refuseandresist.org/police_state/art.php?aid=690 accessed August 4, 2004.)
Libraries Shredding Against PATRIOT Act
(Dean Murphy, "Librarians Use Shredder to Show Opposition to New FBI Powers," The New York Times, April 7, 2003, http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0407-03.htm accessed August 4, 2004; Christine Pelisek, "Check This Out: Libraries Quietly Sound Alarm Against PATRIOT Act," Los Angeles Weekly, July 4-10, 2003, http://www.laweekly.com/ink/03/33/features-pelisek.php accessed August 8, 2004.)
Republicans Change Rules To Keep Library Oversight
(Associated Press, "Bush Prevails as House Refuses to Curb Patriot Act," FreeRepublic.com, July 8, 2004, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1167860/posts, accessed July 13, 2004.)
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