Intellectual Freedom News 10/18/19
Highlights
- Nominations open for 2020 IFRT John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award
- IFRT accepting nominations for 2020 Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award
- ALA’s eBooksForAll petition exceeds 100,000 signatures | Library Journal
Censorship
- Georgia college students burned the books of a Latina author | CNN
- Diversity Library’ school initiative sparks objections | Loudoun Now (VA)
- ACLU: Cautioning against censorship at LCPS libraries | Loudoun Times
- Col. Co. School Superintendent removes three books from curriculum | WJBF.com (GA)
- CD’A Library’s Book Bandit Strikes Again | Bonner County Daily
- Islam in public school challenge rejected by Supreme Court | Bloomberg Law
- Charleston mayor cancels Book Festival appearance, citing anti-LGBTQ author | Charleston Gazette-Mail (WV)
- Drag queen program at Vancouver Community Library defended | The Columbian
Privacy and Cybersecurity
- Americans and Digital Knowledge | Pew Research Center: A majority of U.S. adults can answer fewer than half the questions correctly on a digital knowledge quiz, and many struggle with certain cybersecurity and privacy questions
- The delicate ethics of using facial recognition in schools | Wired
- Cities examine proper – and improper – uses of facial recognition | Wired
- Privacy matters: A critique of open libraries | OIF Blog
- Who should enforce privacy protections? | New America
- Privacy bill would give FTC actual authority, land lying executives in jail | Ars Technica
- Chrome rolls out new protections preventing password and data theft | Ars Technica
- Students under surveillance? Data-tracking enters a provocative new phase | The Chronicle of Higher Education
Additional privacy posts, news, and updates are available at the Choose Privacy Everyday blog.
Access
- Inequality in school library access is a ‘social mobility time bomb’, says Cressida Cowell | iNews
- Army defends decision to close space, tech library | StarTribune (AL)
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
- Washington State keeps enforcing net neutrality as it hails FCC court loss | Ars Technica
- Denver council members eye broader broadband to address internet inequalities | Colorado Politics
- Anacortes, Washington, is building a public broadband network. Is it a model for bridging the digital divide? | GeekWire
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- The real threat to free speech on campus isn’t coming from the left | The Washington Post
- Free expression and government overreach | Inside Higher Ed
Fake News, Free Press, Social Media
- Defiant Zuckerberg says Facebook won’t police political speech | The New York Times
- Twitter: World leaders’ accounts not entirely above policies | The New York Times
First Amendment & Free Speech
- Tech companies get a free pass on moderating content | Slate
- From NBA to Trump to our ears and eyes, how free speech works | Freedom Forum Institute
Around the Web
- Every child can become a lover of books | The Atlantic
- Safety in libraries: A continuum | OIF Blog
- Tech giants fight digital right-to-repair bills | Pew Research
International Issues
- Toronto Public Library under fire over event by controversial speaker | The Chronicle Journal
- Tech companies didn’t plan for Chinese censorship | Motherboard
- Turkish ISP blocks social media sites near Syrian border | Wired
- Netflix and Amazon face censorship in India: Source | The New York Times
ALA News
- New from ACRL: “Libraries Promoting Reflective Dialogue in a Time of Political Polarization”
- Public libraries across U.S. join American Library Association’s first “digital book club” with gripping new ebook
- Rainbow Round Table seeks nominations for outstanding service to the LGBTQIA+ community
- Nominate a superstar librarian for the I Love My Librarian award before Oct. 21, 2019.
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