ABFFE UPDATE

February 15, 2008 Previously in ABFFE Update Volume 10, Number 2

ABFFE Fights CIA Censorship, Defends FOIA Reform

ABFFE is working with groups opposing Central Intelligence Agency censorship of a book by Valerie Plame Wilson and President George Bush’s effort to undermine legislation strengthening the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  “The administration is assaulting First Amendment rights on two fronts,” ABFFE President Chris Finan said.  “On one hand, it is trying to prevent Wilson from publishing once secret information that is now a matter of public record.  On the other, President Bush is seeking to undermine a law improving the Freedom of Information Act that he just signed.”

In February, ABFFE participated in an amicus brief submitted by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) in a lawsuit that Wilson and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, filed last year after the CIA refused to allow her to publish the dates of her employment by the agency.  Her book, Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House, was published without the information.  (In the book, this fact and other information censored by the CIA are blacked out.)  In her lawsuit, Wilson argued that her dates of service had been revealed by the CIA in an unclassified letter and are available in both the Congressional Record and on the Internet.  However, a federal judge denied her request to publish the information, and the case has been appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  The AAP brief is available online here.

Also in February, ABFFE joined 30 civil liberties and open government groups in urging Congress to reject President Bush’s effort to undermine the OPEN Government Act, a bill Bush signed into law in December that is intended to improve the government’s response to requests under the Freedom of Information Act.  One of the key reforms in the law is the creation of an ombudsman’s office in the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), a non-partisan agency responsible for making government documents available to the public.  In the budget bill he submitted to Congress, the president called for moving the ombudsman’s office from NARA to the Department of Justice, which often defends government officials when they oppose FOIA requests.

In a letter delivered to the House and Senate committees reviewing the budget bill, ABFFE and its allies charged that such a move constitutes an obvious conflict of interest and a serious restriction on freedom of information.  The letter is available online here.

ABFFE Condemns Hacker Attacks on Online Bookseller

On January 31, ABFFE condemned efforts by computer hackers to disrupt the operations of an online bookseller, Abunga.com.  Abunga.com, which advertises itself as a bookseller that “promotes decency” by refusing to sell “pornography” and other “illicit material,” angered the hackers when it announced recently that it would no longer sell Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass.  The book has been criticized by some religious groups as “anti-Christian.”  According to Abunga.com, the hackers have attempted to disrupt the operation of its Web site through hundreds of attacks, including some that attempted to block access to the books on the site.  “People have a right to disagree with the book selection policy of Abunga.com,” ABFFE President Chris Finan said.  “They have a right to protest that policy.  But they do not have a right to try to stop the bookstore from doing business.  That is an act of censorship.”

Finan said that ABFFE believes that booksellers should offer a wide range of books.  But he added that booksellers have a right to decide what books they will sell.  If people don’t like the policy of a particular store, they can shop elsewhere.  “The First Amendment protects our freedom to choose, and that right applies to booksellers no less than to the public,” he said.

Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee Approves “Harmful to Minors” Bill

On February 13, the Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee voted 4 - 2 to approve a bill that bans the sale to minors of books and magazines that are deemed "harmful to minors." Prior to the vote, Matthew Miller, ABFFE board member and general manager of the Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver and Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and Lisa Knudsen, executive director of the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association, told the committee that the bill would have a chilling effect on the sale of material that is protected by the First Amendment for adults and older minors. ABFFE and other members of the Media Coalition opposed the legislation and submitted a memo detailing their objections.

"This is a backward step, but it is only the first of several votes on the bill," ABFFE President Chris Finan said. "ABFFE will work with Colorado booksellers and librarians to explain to the rest of the legislature how 'harmful to minors' laws threaten free speech."

In his testimony, Miller stated that Senate Bill 125 would force booksellers to apply their own personal and often conflicting judgments about what material is harmful to minors. "This legislation would have a chilling effect on the publication and dissemination of books, magazines, and other materials that are protected by the First Amendment for adults and older minors -- works with literary, artistic, political, and scientific value," Miller said. "If this bill is enacted and enforced, every bookseller and librarian would be placed in the untenable position of censor."

Calling the law "potentially unconstitutional," the Media Coalition memo argued that SB 125 would "significantly limit the access by adults and older minors to material that they have a First Amendment right to browse, borrow, or buy. While bookstores and libraries are sensitive to creating an environment appropriate for patrons of all ages, including minors, they feel a strong responsibility to ensure adults' access to the widest range of constitutionally protected material as possible."  

Colorado’s “harmful to minors” law was struck down by the Colorado Supreme Court in 1985 following a legal challenge by the Tattered Cover and members of Media Coalition.

ABFFE Book of the Month is "Dissent: Voices of Conscience"

The ABFFE Book of the Month for February is Dissent: Voices of Conscience by Colonel (Ret.) Ann Wright and Susan Dixon.  In Dissent, Wright and Dixon bring together the stories of government insiders and active-duty military personnel who spoke out, resigned, leaked documents, or refused to deploy in protest of government actions they felt were illegal.  The book tells the stories of these men and women who risked careers and reputations to speak out.

Wright was serving on the United States diplomatic mission to Mongolia in 2003 when the U.S. invaded Iraq.  She was the third federal employee to resign in protest of the war.  Dixon is a doctoral candidate at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.  She teaches on the geography of peace and war, and on political activism and nonviolence.

To read an interview with the authors, here.

To read about recent ABFFE Book of the Month selections, click here.

Show Your Support for Freadom!

ABFFE's popular, newly-redesigned “freadom” t-shirts, buttons, and bumper stickers are available during Banned Books Week and all year round.  To order online, visit the ABFFE store.