It’s a bit of a stunt, but ALA Council is doing a National [USA] PATRIOT Act call-in day at 10 am CST today. All Councilors are going to turn on their cell phones and call their legislators to ask them to
- Include language in Section 215 to require a statement of fact linking the person whose records are sought to a terrorism investigation.
- Include language to allow a Section 215 recipient to post a meaningful challenge to the FISA court order.
- Include language allowing a section 505 recipieint to post a meaningful challenge to a National Security Letter.
Of course, when I’ve been calling my representative, I’ve been going beyond this and expressing grave reservations about Section 215 specifically and other parts of the USA APTRIOT Act generally (specifically concerning wiretaps and electronic communication generally), but this language appears designed to be something that everyone on Council can get behind. So, if you’re free in a few hours, go find your representative and pick up the phone.