---
title: "Intellectual freedom"
chunk: 6/6
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_freedom"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:16:50.358602+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== United States ===
In the aftermath of the September 11th attacks issues concerning the suspension or reduction of civil liberties in the name of national security have arisen. Legislation such as the Homeland Security Act (HSA) of 2002 and the USA PATRIOT Act (often shortened to the Patriot Act) of 2001 encroach upon intellectual freedom rights to privacy and freedom of information to enhance domestic security from potential terrorist threats and acts.
The Patriot Act in particular has come under fire from numerous intellectual freedom organizations. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has criticized the Patriot Act as unconstitutional, especially when "the private communications of law-abiding American citizens might be intercepted incidentally," Additionally, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) maintains that the lower standard applied to wiretaps "gives the FBI a 'blank check' to violate the communications privacy of countless innocent Americans". The American Library Association (ALA) has partnered with American libraries in opposition to a provision in Section 215 which allows the FBI to apply for an order to produce materials that assist in an investigation undertaken to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities. The "tangible things" that can be targeted include "books, records, papers, documents, and other items".

== See also ==
Academic freedom
Censorship
Cognitive liberty
Freedom of thought
Information wants to be free

== References ==

== Further reading ==
Alfino, Mark and Laura Koltutsky. The Library Juice Press Handbook of Intellectual Freedom: Concepts, Cases, and Theories. (Sacramento: Library Juice Press, 2014). ISBN 978-1-936117-57-4.
Dix, W. S. (1954). Freedom of communications: Proceedings of the first conference on intellectual freedom, New York City, June 28–29, 1952. Chicago, IL: American Library Association.
Lewis, Anthony. Freedom for the Thought We Hate. (New York: Basic Books, 2007). ISBN 0-465-03917-0.
Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association. Intellectual Freedom Manual, 8th ed. (Chicago: American Library Association, 2010). ISBN 978-0-8389-3590-3.
Robbins, Louise S. Censorship and the American Library: The American Library Association's Response to Threats to Intellectual Freedom 1939-1969. (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996). ISBN 0-313-29644-8.
Sakharov, Andrei, Progress, Coëxistence, and Intellectual Freedom. Trans. by [staff of] The New York Times; with introd., afterword, and notes by Harrison E. Salisbury. (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1968).

== External links ==

Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the Wayback Machine (archived 2014-12-08)
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Statement on Libraries and Intellectual Freedom at the Wayback Machine (archived 2007-02-07)
Canadian Library Association Position Statement on Intellectual Freedom at the Wayback Machine (archived 2008-03-03)
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Collection of Statements on Intellectual Freedom adopted by National Library Associations at the Library of Congress Web Archives (archived 2013-12-05)