Choose Privacy Week begins next week, May 1 – 7, 2012, and the ALA is offering numerous resources to help libraries observe the week.

From April 25 through April 27, the ALA will post three online presentations to Privacy Revolution that explore the growing impact of surveillance on our civil liberties. These presentations can be used to guide library program planning or can be shared with the community during Choose Privacy Week.

On Wednesday, April 25, Michael German, senior policy counsel for national security and privacy for the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, will discuss “Data Mining, Government Surveillance and Civil Liberties.” George Christian, executive director of the Library Connection, Inc., will discuss “Challenging Government Surveillance in the Library” on Thursday, April 26. On Friday, April 27, Amie Stepanovich, legal counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), will close the series with a discussion about “The Future of Biometrics and Government Surveillance.”

Beginning on April 30 and continuing throughout Choose Privacy Week, five guest bloggers will reflect on topics addressing the importance of defending privacy and assuring freedom from surveillance:

• Monday, April 30: Barbara Jones, director, ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom.
• Tuesday, May 1: George Christian, executive director of the Library Connection and one of the “Connecticut Four,” a group of librarians who filed a lawsuit challenging the use of the USA PATRIOT Act in libraries.
• Wednesday, May 2: Neil Richards, professor of Law at Washington University, on privacy and the perils of social reading.
• Friday, May 4: Peter Chase, director, Plainfield Public Library, Plainfield, Connecticut, and one of the “Connecticut Four,” a group of librarians who filed a lawsuit challenging the use of the USA PATRIOT Act in libraries.
• Monday, May 7: J. Douglas Archer, reference and peace studies librarian at the University of Notre Dame and chair of the ALA-IFC Privacy Subcommittee.

The keynote event of Choose Privacy Week 2012 will be Thursday, May 3 premiere of a new short form documentary on privacy, government surveillance and civil liberties that libraries can share with their communities and host events to discuss the issues it raises.

The documentary considers the surveillance techniques used by federal and local law enforcement to spy on immigrant communities in America and the decision by local, state and federal governments to adopt these techniques to monitor and track the activities of all Americans. It features commentary from experts and everyday citizens who ask important questions about the impact of the growing surveillance state on national security, civil liberties and privacy rights.

Featured speakers include Michael German, ACLU senior policy counsel for national security and privacy; Margaret Huang, executive director of the Rights Working Group; Paromita Shah, associate director of the National Immigration Project; Julia Shearson, Executive Director at Council on American Islamic Relations – Cleveland; and Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

The documentary will be available for viewing as a streaming download at www.privacyrevolution.org

For more information on Choose Privacy Week, visit www.privacyrevolution.org or contact Deborah Caldwell-Stone at dstone@ala.org.

(Cross-posted from www.privacyrevolution.org)