Intellectual Freedom News 1/3/2025
Highlights
- Arkansas Book-Banning Law Declared Unconstitutional | ALA (AR)
- A look back at news that affected libraries and the profession | American Libraries
- Into the Future | American Libraries
Censorship
- Texas book ban law causes a school district to remove Bible from libraries | Guardian (TX)
- Gillette resident asks library to put “The V-Word” back in teen room | Gillette News Record (WY)
- Youth access to novel ‘The Hate U Give’ prompts debate by St. Tammany Parish Library Board | NOLA (LA)
- Did Chicago-area libraries give in to ‘heckler’s veto’? | Chicago Sun Times (IL)
- St. Francis school board gets pushback on controversial book buying plan | MPRNews (MN)
- Challenges to public library funding throughout Arkansas meet frustration, some resistance | Arkansas Advocate (AR)
- Library board looks at removing durability and reputable distributors as factors in buying books | Gillette News Record (WY)
- Will Huntington Beach voters get their say on a library review board? | LAist (CA)
- These are the LGBTQ books that got an Ohio teacher suspended | Cincinnati Enquirer (OH)
- Elizabeth School District sued for removing books from school libraries | KDVR (CO)
- Binding together the GarCo library board | Aspen Daily News (CO)
- Elkhart County Councilman speaks publicly on book banning | Goshen News (IN)
- School board denies book ban appeal, allows 2 books to remain on library shelves | KVNU (UT)
- How Portage schools handle requests to remove books from curriculums | MLive (MI)
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- Aerial and Drone Surveillance: 2024 in Review | EFF
- Surveilling Speech Won’t Increase Birthrates | New York Times
- Kids Online Safety Act Continues to Threaten Our Rights Online: 2024 in Review | EFF
- Over 3 million mail servers without encryption exposed to sniffing attacks | BleepingComputer
- The Atlas of Surveillance Expands Its Data on Police Surveillance Technology: 2024 in Review | EFF
First Amendment & Civil Rights
- Judge Strikes Down Portions of Arkansas Law That Threatened Librarians | New York Times (AR)
- Tennessee age verification law blocked from taking effect due to First Amendment concerns | FOX17 (TN)
- Amanda Jones Wins in Louisiana State Supreme Court | School Library Journal (LA)
- A new California law prevents schools from requiring teachers to ‘out’ LGBTQ students | Local News Matters (CA)
- Civil rights groups tell school districts not to put up Ten Commandments or risk being sued | KLFY (LA)
- Missouri Ethics Commission fines ‘Truth In Politics’ $250K for defying campaign laws | Springfield News-Leader (MO)
- CLU of Indiana and American Civil Liberties Union request en banc review in challenge to Indiana’s ban on care for transgender youth | ACLU Indiana (IN)
- The Growing Intersection of Reproductive Rights and Digital Rights: 2024 in Review | EFF
- Publishers and authors say library books are not ‘government speech’ | WUSF (FL)
- Justifying Book Bans, Florida Says It’s Not Required to Provide Libraries to School Students. Publishers Disagree. | FlaglerLive (FL)
- The huge stakes in a new Supreme Court case about pornography | Vox
Academic Freedom & Student Speech
- NYU students and professors cuffed after blocking library during latest pro-Palestine protest | AMNY (NY)
- Students Love Her Asian American Studies Class. Will the Critical Race Theory Backlash Leave It in Limbo? | TexasMonthly (TX)
Legislation
- Does a book challenge constitute discrimination? A bill in the Oregon Legislature offers an answer | Oregon Artswatch (OR)
State & Local Governance
- How the Freedom Caucus Rose to Power in Wyoming | New York Times (WY)
- Oklahoma lawmakers, teachers discuss value of Bibles in schools, elimination of Department of Education | OU Daily (OK)
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
- New Year, New FCC Chair | BroadbandBreakfast
- Supreme Court Won’t Help Big Telecom Kill NY Law Requiring Affordable Broadband For Poor People | TechDirt
- US appeals court blocks Biden administration effort to restore net-neutrality rules | Reuters
Journalism & Media
- The ABC Settlement Is Just the Start of Trump’s Press Crackdown. History Shows Us What Comes Next. | Politico
- Sullivan and the Central Meaning of the First Amendment | Law & Liberty
Social Media
- Right-Wing Figures Allege Censorship on X Amid Visa Controversy | PC Mag
- Social Media Companies Face Global Tug-of-War Over Free Speech | New York Times
- Judge blocks parts of California bid to protect kids from social media | Courthouse News Service (CA)
- Knight Institute, Free Press, PEN America Urge Supreme Court to Strike Down TikTok Ban | FreePress
- Bots and disinformation test Bluesky’s resilience | Digwatch
Disinformation & Media Literacy
- Russian and Iranian groups sanctioned over U.S. election disinformation | PBS
- Attempts at a Technological Solution to Disinformation Will Do More Harm Than Good | ACLU
- Is Facebook capable of handling disinformation on its platform? | Business Standard
International
- Musk Expresses Support for Far-Right Party in Germany’s Election | New York Times (Germany)
- Salman Rushdie’s ‘The Satanic Verses’ returns to India after 36-year ban | New Indian Express (India)
- Younger adolescents’ perspectives on book censorship: a case of Croatia | Nature (Croatia)
- Iran lifts 2-year ban on WhatsApp, Google Play, but social media censorship remains | EFE (Iran)
- Polish border guards refute Russian fake news about new wave of refugees from Ukraine | Ukrainska Pravda (Poland)
- How Finnish youth learn to spot disinformation | France24 (Finland)
- Vietnam to enforce strict social media regulations in ‘draconian’ new decree | France24 (Vietnam)
Around the Web
- Nonprofits Are at the Core of American Democracy. Now They’re Under Threat | TIME
- ‘Banned Book Club’, Anime and Third Spaces: How to Get Teens Really Reading | KQED
- Letters to the Editor: People who ban books are trying to exhaust us. Don’t give in | Los Angeles Times
- Battles over books led the way in culture wars over education | Suncoast News
- These were the most-borrowed books from public libraries in 2024 | NPR
- ACLU Statement on Death of Former President Jimmy Carter | ACLU
- Editorial: Wanted: A state librarian who’s eager to ban books | Valley News
- First Amendment the first casualty in Oklahoma school chief’s weird war on ‘woke’ | Opinion | News-Press Now
- Telling students to buy books is not the answer to book bans; libraries are meant to serve everyone | Press-Enterprise
- ‘Free-For-All’ book fair in Glenwood Springs aims to increase community access to a diversity of books | Aspen Journalism
- After arguments, new Liberty Lake Library trustees confirmed | Range
- Oregon libraries see record challenges to books — and record checkouts | Oregon Artswatch
- The century-old Supreme Court cases that will shape the future of parental rights | Deseret News
- Why Being Forced to Precisely Follow a Curriculum Harms Teachers and Students | 74
- King County Library System publishes 2024 ‘Best Books’ list featuring 130+ staff picks | B Town Blog
- Open Letter: Florida’s Health Curriculum Limits Should Not Impact Our Libraries | West Orlando News
- The Plaintiff Who Secured Academic Freedom Sees Echoes of ‘Red Scare’ Today | PEN America
- Fighting for Book Workers’ Rights, Battling Book Bans, and Other Literary Resolutions For 2025 | LitHub
- Librarians and Allies Must Act to Secure the Future of Libraries and Intellectual Freedom | School Library Journal
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