National Security Letters—Librarians Speak

In August, we mentioned that a challenge to the use of National Security Letters [hereinafter NSLs] had been undertaken by the American Library Association. Last Friday, we mentioned that a concurrence in the 2nd Circuit argued that NSLs are unconstitutional violations of individual free speech rights. Today, some of those librarians who had been served with NSLs have spoken out.

One of the librarians, George Christian, stated during an ACLU-sponsored press conference that “the idea that the government can secretly investigate what the public is informing itself about is chilling,” and that that fact that he can finally speak out, now that the government has dropped its appeal of the removal of a gag order, “is a little like being permitted to call the fire department only after a building has burned to the ground.”^[1]

Librarians aren’t the only ones who may be asked for information about other individuals. A little-noticed USA Today story a couple of weeks ago pointed out that the Treasury Department has implemented new rules to require “mutual funds and insurers to report you to Uncle Sam if they note a ‘suspicious’ transaction that might relate to money laundering or terrorism.”^[2] Under USA PATRIOT Act mechanisms, the Treasury Department is allowed to enact regulations that require these entities to report suspicious transactions.^[3]
What constitutes suspicious, however, isn’t entirely clear, and it varies from institution to institution.^[4] Generally, “consumers who pay cash for transactions of at least $5,000 or who use bogus addresses or fake IDs are more likely to have personal information — names, addresses, e-mails, Social Security numbers and account numbers — reported to the government.”^[5] Insurers were the first entity to be subjected to the requirement, being under the duty on May 2; mutual funds will be required to report the activity starting in November, and the Treasury Department is deciding whether to require other companies, “such as car dealers, travel agents and real estate agents,” to follow the same rules.^[6] If the information is sent to the government, the individual is barred by law from being notified about it.^[7]

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[1] Frank Eltman, Conn. Librarians Bitterly Decry Gag Order in Patriot Act Case, AP (via Boston Globe), May 30, 2006.
[2] Kathy Chu, Watch Out: Your Mutual Fund Could Report Transactions of $5,000 or More, USA Today, May 18, 2006.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.