George Christian, Executive Director of Library Connection in Hartford, CT, is one of four people in the world who can discuss the National Security Letter (NSL) that his library received. Along with the NSL came a gag order forbidding George to speak about the contents of the letter or the surrounding situation -- ever.
The Patriot Act went into effect two weeks after September 11th, 2001 in an effort to combat terrorism originating in the US. According to George, the Act is a "sweeping overhaul of checks and balances" that can't be understood without looking back through all original legislation referred to throughout the entirety of the Act. The Act operates without any form of judicial oversight.
Throughout the US, some 400,000 NSLs have been distributed since the Patriot Act went into effect. The recipients of these other letters are bound by a lifetime gag order. George, however, along with his Executive Board, decided to fight back against NSLs and the gag order, even though the only way to do so is to sue the Attorney General of the United States, a daunting task. His story is a great one, and I'd recommend making an effort to hear him speak if you ever get a chance to. Despite the persistence and determination of George and the rest of the Executive Board, their court case did not make NSLs declared unconstitutional, but it did set a precedent for future cases.
In March of 2008, former President Bush re-authorized the Patriot Act, with a few small adjustments. Those who receive NSLs are now permitted to consult with an attorney (which was formerly in direct contradiction to wording of the gag order) however (and this is a big however) there are also now punishments for not adhering to the order -- including five years jail time, and the NSLs are now much harder to contest. In the new legislation, libraries are considered exempt from NSLs except those libraries that offer telecommunication services, i.e. offer the internet, i.e. almost all libraries.
What are best practices for ensuring patron confidentiality in your library?
- "Conduct a privacy/confidentiality audit;
- gather the minimum amount of information needed for library operations;
- retain information connecting a user to a particular transaction only as long as need for normal operations, and then discard;"*
- write to your senator and tell them that you support the Justice Act, which supports a system of checks and balances within the Patriot Act.
*From: "Protecting Library Patron Confidentiality -- Checklist of Best Practices." Trina J. Magi, Library Associate Professor, University of Vermont, Fall 2006.
