North Carolina Library Association
Intellectual Freedom Committee Report
April 25, 2003

CIPA: On March 5, oral arguments were heard at the Supreme Court. Coverage of this was high. Like all other court decisions, it is hard to predict the outcome of this case. The ruling is expected by the first week of July. All we can do is wait and hope that the Justices rule in our favor. Otherwise, filtering will be necessary in order to maintain E-rate.

E-rate: Colorado Congressmen Tom Tancredo has introduced a bill to terminate the e-rate. The bill is to be referred to as the "E-rate Termination Act". It is H.R. 1252 and the complete bill can be found at:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=108_cong_bills&docid=f:h1252ih.txt.pdf

It is believed that this bill will not get very far but you should contact your elected officials to let them know success stories on how e-rate has benefited your library.

USA Patriot Act: At this meeting, we will be presenting a letter/resolution for our elected officials in Washington D.C. to support the repeal of Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. This is the section that deals with libraries and bookstores. In the meantime, this issue has taken a life of it own. Patriot II (Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003) is the latest bill that Ashcroft is trying to get passed. You can review it at: http://www.dailyrotten.com/source-docs/patriot2draft.html Be forewarn: this is a very lengthy document. Other sites worth reviewing:

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15541 This article talks about Patriot II.

http://www.legis.state.ak.us/pdf/23/Bills/SJR015A.PDF Alaska state legislature introduces a resolution to address the concerns that the libraries and bookstores have been raising.

http://www.napanews.com/templates/index.cfm?template=story_full&id=A784E685-B6C0-4C2A-B2B0-CAB192656E90 Article on the Napa Library and the impact of the USA Patriot Act.

http://www.natcath.com/NCR_Online/archives/032103/032103s.htm An interesting editorial about the Patriot Act.

http://www.montanaforum.com/rednews/2003/04/09/build/freedoms/dsea.php?nnn=6 Guest Editorial: Aschcroft seeks to expand his power with security act.

Challenges: At the last meeting. I reported that I received a phone call indicating that a library had a search warrant for a computer terminal without the library's permission. By the time we had the meeting, it was still being investigated. I spoke with the Director and I am please to report that the issue was NOT an intellectual freedom problem.

It is requested that people do notify us when a challenge occurs. The form is on the website and we encourage you to use it. If you know of any challenges, please let us know.

Michael Sawyer
Chair