Okay, I’m bracing myself here.
CBLDF Joins the Media Coalition is the thrust of this news story, which details that the organization will have more power by joining with a coalition that includes the MPAA and the American Library Association. And they’re going to fight section 215 of the PATRIOT Act which gives the FBI authority to do a search of bookseller or library records with the approval of a court order.
I’ll leave it up to you to discuss this in the comments and the forum. I’m not going to give any thoughts on this, simply because it’s a divisive issue on which everyone’s already made up their minds.
You probably think this never-invoked provision is an incredible intrusion by the federal government on your right to read a book about how to build a dirty bomb in conjunction with another book about why America is the Great Satan without getting a knock on your door.
Or you might think that this rare (at this point hypothetical) intrusion in extreme cases is a microscopically minor complaint about nothing. Especially in light of everyone’s inability, no matter how remote the possibility of their being terrorists, to take a simple plane without a cavity search from a bored federal employee followed by the removal of all but the dullest objects from your person, a far more offensive intrusion which happens every damn day and is just as voluntary as buying or checking out a book.
It’s a valid argument with good points on both sides. Thus, I will withhold any comment on it.