'Taking Liberties' — New Book on What We All Lost After 9/11

Susan Herman, ACLU President, is the author of Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy. In this eye-opening work, Herman takes a hard look at the human and social costs of the War on Terror. A decade after 9/11, it is far from clear that the government’s hastily adopted antiterrorist tactics — such as the Patriot Act — are keeping us safe, but it is increasingly clear that these emergency measures in fact have the potential to ravage our lives — and have already done just that to countless Americans.

For example,

• Under the so-called “library provision” of the USA PATRIOT Act, the government can demand that custodians of records – including librarians, schools, social work institutions, and internet service providers (who, in these days of cloud computing, have access to a mind-boggling array of information about us) — turn over those records without having to explain to a court why they want those records, or whether the person who is the subject of the records has done anything suspicious.
  

More about Taking Liberties:

• Cnbc.com: ACLU Boss: Government Power Over You Quietly Growing
• KGO: Ronn Owens Show
• Al Jazeera English: US security measures ‘eroding civil rights’
• NY1 Online: ACLU President Discusses New Book, Counterterrorism Tactics
• C-Span: After Words

“Taking Liberties offers a compelling case that the basic constitutional protections most Americans take for granted, including the rights to free speech, a fair trial and due process, as well as freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, were seriously compromised after 9/11 as a result of the government’s well-meaning but ill-conceived efforts to safeguard the country against another attack. . . [P]ersuasively fair and reasonable . . . A valuable contribution to the growing body of literature regarding the War on Terror’s impact on our constitutional rights.” — Kirkus Reviews

Read our 9/11 blog series »

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