From: "Richmond, Elizabeth B." <RICHMOEB@uwec.edu> Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:00:39 -0500 Subject: FW: :Connecticut John Does Discuss Security versus Liberty on PBS'"America at a Crossroads" Friday, Apri Message-ID: <7A17A445D0203848B157E8D70D1AC77E376F589C71@CHERRYPEPSI.uwec.edu>
From American Library Association Committee on Legislation/Subcommittee on
Privacy - of which I am a member.
Betsy Richmond
FYI: This should be an interesting segment....
The Connecticut John Does Discuss Security versus Liberty on PBS'
"America at a Crossroads" Friday, April 20, 2007
Barbara Bailey, Peter Chase, George Christian, and Jan Nocek, the Connectic
ut John Does, will be discussing their experience as the four board members
of the Library Connection who turned to the courts to challenge an FBI Nat
ional Security Letter on the new PBS series, "America at a Crossroads," hos
ted by Robert MacNeil.
Their segment, "A Library Story," will premiere on Friday, April 20,
2007 at 9:00 pm on most PBS stations. It is part of a two hour segment, "Se
curity versus Liberty: The Other War."
On the web:
http://www.pbs.org/weta/crossroads/about/show_security_vs_liberty.html#l
ibrary
The series: http://www.pbs.org/weta/crossroads/index.html
The Library Story
How much independent power should we give the FBI? Was 9/11 a wake-up call
that the agency responsible for protecting us from terrorism had been hamst
rung with too many regulations? Or does the long history of FBI abuses of A
mericans rights during the Cold War prove that the Bureaus power must alway
s be carefully counterbalanced by the courts?
In 2005, a battle broke out in Connecticut between a non-profit group calle
d Library Connection that provides computer services to libraries, and the
Justice Department and FBI. At issue: a little-known FBI investigative tool
called a National Security Letter (NSL) that empowers the FBI to demand ce
rtain kinds of records, in secret, without a court order.
We meet four ordinary Americans who decided to challenge the constitutional
ity of National Security Letters. Barbara Bailey, Peter Chase, George Chris
tian and Janet Nocek, who are all board members of Library Connection, sued
the Attorney General of the United States to stop the FBI from using an NS
L to find out who had used a particular library computer.
Were they taking a principled stand for privacy or obstructing the work of
FBI agents who are under enormous pressure not to miss a single clue?
We hear from the four plaintiffs; from Ann Beeson, the ACLU attorney who re
presented them; from the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, Kevin OConnor; and
from FBI General Counsel Valerie Caproni.
See also
George Christian Urges Congress to Reconsider Parts of the USA PATRIOT Act
http://blogs.ala.org/oif.php?title=usapatriotact_nsl&more=1&c=1&tb=
1&pb=
1
On April 11, George Christian, one of the four "Does" of Doe v.
Gonzales, testified before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constit
ution. Doe v. Gonzales was a challenge to the FBI's demand, through a Natio
nal Security Letter (NSL) in 2005, that Connecticut's Library Connection, a
computer consortium serving 28 libraries, turn over patrons' computer use
records.
See also
USA PATRIOT Act News
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/ifissues/usapatriotactnews.htm