Privacy for Readers

**"* <b*@prodigy.net>**

I'll preface my remarks on reader privacy with this note from Lon:

"This item is being posted to the GWL for the information of the members.
If you have comments about it, take them to the site in the letter and act
accordingly there.  Discussions of the measure are not welcome on the Garden
Writers List.   Most members have been on the list long enough to understand
the aims of the list and will respect that.   If not, please see the footers
of any GWL post for where to unsubscribe.  -Lon Rombough, list founder."

Many members of the US book industry are supporting legislation to amend the
USA Patriot Act.
I do not want to start a discussion of this on GWL, but I want to make the
information available so that anyone interested in doing so can sign the
petition (or object to it) at the site, www.readerprivacy.org.

Many nationally known organizations for writers, publishers, booksellers,
and libraries are in support of changes to the privacy act. The following
message was sent to me today by a fellow publisher, Gregg Wilhelm, and I
find it significant for garden writers. Even gardening and horticulture can
be controversial -- any discussion of medicinal plants or organic gardening
can be provocative.

Here's the forwarded info, and there's more background on the reader privacy
website.

With best wishes,
Betty

Betty Mackey, Publisher
B. B. Mackey Books
P. O. Box 475
Wayne, PA 19087
bbmackey@prodigy.net
www.mackeybooks.com

----------------forwarded message---------------------

More information at www.abffe.com and www.readerprivacy.org.

From: Chris Finan [c*@abffe.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 1:07 PM
Subject: Final draft of Patriot Act statement

Thank you again for agreeing to sign the Book and Library Community
Statement supporting legislation to amend the USA PATRIOT Act.  We're
getting a tremendous response.  We have received endorsements from 36
associations representing virtually every bookseller, librarian and writer
in the United States as well as nearly 80 companies, including Barnes &
Noble, Borders, Random House, Simon & Schuster, Holtzbrinck Publishers,
Baker & Taylor and Ingram Book Group.

The statement will be released on Tuesday when the American
Booksellers Association, the American Library Association and PEN American
Center announce the launch of a Campaign for Reader Privacy.  The
centerpiece of the campaign is a petition drive that is already underway in
hundreds of bookstores and libraries around the country.  We are also
collecting signatures on line through a new Web site, www.readerprivacy.org.

>From long and painful experience, we have learned that statements
like this one sometimes contain mistakes--people who want to sign on are
inadvertently overlooked, their names are misspelled, etc.  We don't want
this to happen to you!  Please look at your listing on the statement and let
me know if there is a problem.  You don't need to contact me if your listing
is correct.

The statement will remain open until tomorrow at 5 p.m.  We will
send you the final list of signers next week along with the press release
announcing the Campaign for Reader Privacy.

{ED: So, I assume you are free to contact Mr. Finan if you wish to be listed
therein; otherwise, I think the call to action is to get individuals,
businesses, and associations to circulate printed petitions or add their
signatures on-line at www.readerprivacy.org.}

Once again, thank you for your support.  It has been a wonderful
boost for those who are working to restore the protections for the privacy
of bookstores and libraries.

Chris

Christopher Finan, president
American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression
139 Fulton St., Suite 302
New York, NY 10038
telephone (212) 587-4025
fax (212) 587-2436
www.abffe.com

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