Reader Privacy Act Heads to Governor's Desk!

The Reader Privacy Act has passed the California legislature with a strong bipartisan vote in both the Senate and Assembly and is now headed to Governor Brown's desk.

The Reader Privacy Act is authored by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo), co-sponsored by the ACLU of California and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and supported by diverse organizations and companies, from the Consumer Federation of California and California Library Association to Google and TechNet.

The Reader Privacy Act would update California state law to ensure that government and third parties cannot demand access to Californians' reading records without proper justification. It would also provide greater notice and transparency about when and how often government and third parties are demanding reading records. (Learn more about the bill here.)

The books we read reveal private, often sensitive information about our political and religious beliefs, our health concerns, and our personal lives. And throughout history, government and third parties have tried to collect records [pdf] of these reading habits to monitor activists and trample unpopular ideas and beliefs. That's why California law has long recognized the importance of safeguarding reading records and other expressive material.

Now more and more of us are using online services to browse, read and buy books. And digital book services can collect highly detailed information: which books we browse, how long each page is viewed and digital notes made in the margins. Without strong privacy protections, reading records can be increasingly targeted by government surveillance and in legal proceedings like divorce cases and custody battles. It's time to modernize California privacy law to match the way we buy and read books today.

We applaud the California legislature for passing the Reader Privacy Act with such a strong bipartisan vote. Please learn more about the Reader Privacy Act and contact Governor Brown today. Urge him to sign this important privacy bill into law and ensure that digital book upgrades don't lead to reader privacy downgrades!

Nicole A. Ozer is the Technology and Civil Liberties Policy Director with the ACLU of Northern California.