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FBI in your Library? The USA PATRIOT Act and its Implications for Libraries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Valerie Stevenson
Valerie Stevenson
Affiliation:
Valerie Stevenson is Chair of BIALL & currently Faculty Information Consultant at the University of Aberdeen. She will be moving to a new post at Liverpool John Moores University in August.
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Extract

The title of the legislation commonly referred to as the USA PATRIOT Act is in fact an acronym: the full name of this 342-page act is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, passed on 26 October 2001. It amends more than 15 federal statutes covering criminal procedure, computer fraud and abuse, foreign intelligence, wiretapping and the privacy of student records. The USA PATRIOT legislation was introduced by Attorney-General John Ashcroft who sought to increase the powers to fight terrorism following the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington DC. Some concern was expressed at the lack of public debate when the legislation was introduced: the Act was passed in around six weeks.

Type
Research Article
Information
Legal Information Management , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , Summer 2003 , pp. 68 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © The British and Irish Association of Law Librarians 2003

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References

American Libraries Association, USA PATRIOT Act page, including pdf version of the Act, http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/usapatriotact.htmlGoogle Scholar
Electronic Privacy Information Center: US v. Scarfo, http://www.epic.org/crypto/scarfo.htmlGoogle Scholar
Foerstel, Herbert N, Surveillance in the stacks: the FBI's Library Awareness Program, New York: Greenwood Press, 1991Google Scholar
American Libraries Association, Resolution Reaffirming the Principles of Intellectual Freedom in the Aftermath of the Terrorist Attacks, 23 January 2002, http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/reaffirmifprinciples.htmlGoogle Scholar
American Libraries Association, FBI in your library, http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/fbiinyourlibrary.htmlGoogle Scholar
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American Libraries Association, Resolution on the USA Patriot Act and Related Measures that Infringe on the Rights of Library Users, 29 January 2003, http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/usapatriotresolution.htmlGoogle Scholar