Rep. Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, has introduced the Freedom to Read Protection Act, which would require the FBI to have reasonable cause before searching or seizing library or bookstore records. That is, it would roll back the standard embodied in the USA Patriot Act to that embodied in the Fourth Amendment to the constitution. Sanders has 23 co-sponsors for his bill, one Republican and the rest Democrats. (PS: If federal courts were on the job, legislation would not be necessary to protect the constitution. A federal court should simply overturn the unconstitutional standard in the Patriot Act. But where are the courts? Even if courage has vanished, what about professionalism?)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 3/08/2003 08:55:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
