Business Organizations Back Senate Patriot Act Reforms Protecting Consumer Privacy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Media@dcaclu.org

WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union welcomed a letter sent by leading business organizations to the Senate Tuesday calling for reforms to sweeping Patriot Act powers. Concerned with consumer privacy, and the burden that government records searches place on businesses, the organizations support proposed reforms in the Senate version of Patriot Act reauthorization legislation. Signatories include the United States Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Association of Realtors, the Association of Corporate Counsel, the Financial Services Roundtable and Business Civil Liberties, Inc.

The following can be attributed to Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.

“Businesses have made the modest request that government searches of personal records be linked to a reasonable suspicion of a terrorist threat. The Senate’s version of reauthorization legislation helps ensure the government must show facts and a connection to a suspected terrorist before it can get a court order for sensitive records. It’s a first step in bringing the law in line with the Constitution.

“In supporting Patriot Act reform, business associations join librarians, gun owners, conservatives and many others. What was once a ‘strange bedfellows’ alliance has come to include Americans from leading organizations across the political spectrum, all calling for the same reforms.”