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More developments on the Terrorism Bill. Terry -----Original Message----- From: A list for news and discussion on legal information and law libraries. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Cook, Roger Sent: 27 October 2005 09:54 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Terrorism Bill Sent on behalf of Barbara Tearle: Today I represented BIALL at a meeting of various library groups to discuss how to proceed on library concerns about the Terrorism Bill. This is a brief statement of the groups' concerns and action, prepared by Tony Bainton of SCONUL: The Terrorism Bill, today in its second reading, contains clauses (2 and 3) which are problematic for libraries. They cover the dissemination of terrorist publications, and in view of the wide and uncertain definition of what may constitute a terrorist publication, librarians and their governing bodies/institutions would be at risk of prosecution as the clauses currently stand. Lord Carlile, in his capacity as independent reviewer of anti-terrorist legislation, has expressed a concern about the potential for these clauses to criminalise academic and parliamentary research and serious journalism: his remarks may be said to apply equally to libraries following their normal lawful business. Concern has also been raised about clause 17, defining offences abroad, which puts on an equal footing, for the purposes of the Bill, things done in the UK and the same things done at (say) a university campus in overseas country. Today, representatives of library bodies met and agreed the text of a letter which has been sent to the Home Secretary, with copies to the Secretaries of State for Culture and Education and the all-party libraries group of MPs. The ad hoc group has agreed to meet again on Monday to discuss possible follow-up action, since the timetable for the legislation is very short. The members of the ad hoc group are: Toby Bainton (SCONUL), Andy Birleson (MLA), Guy Daines (CILIP), Clive Field (The British Library), Robin Green (CURL), Gordon Hunt (National Library of Scotland), and Barbara Tearle (BIALL). The letter has been signed by all those organisations and also by SCURL and SLIC. The text of the bill is at http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2005/rp05-066.pdf As you can see, the group will meet again on Monday to work on the next steps. It would help me immensely to have some examples of the possible library scenarios that the Bill, if enacted in its present form, could give rise to. Please email me directly. Barbara Tearle President, BIALL [log in to unmask] This email is intended solely for the addressee. It may contain private and confidential information. If you are not the intended addressee, please take no action based on it nor show a copy to anyone. In this case, please reply to this email to highlight the error. Opinions and information in this email that do not relate to the official business of Nottingham Trent University shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by the University. Nottingham Trent University has taken steps to ensure that this email and any attachments are virus-free, but we do advise that the recipient should check that the email and its attachments are actually virus free. This is in keeping with good computing practice.