CaliforniaAuthors - News and notes from America’s largest book market
September 7, 2008

Score one for reader privacy

The AP reports:

Federal prosecutors have withdrawn a subpoena seeking the identities of thousands of people who bought used books through online retailer Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), newly unsealed court records show.

The withdrawal came after a judge ruled the customers have a First Amendment right to keep their reading habits from the government.

“The (subpoena’s) chilling effect on expressive e-commerce would frost keyboards across America,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker wrote…

[via Publisher's Lunch]

Posted by Donna Wares, November 28th, 2007 | Permalink
File under: Freedom to read, Politics/government, Shades of evil
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