Intellectual Freedom News 10/5/2018
October 5, 2018 – Collated by OIF Staff and News Editors
Intellectual Freedom Highlights
- The Things They Carried – A challenge in Utah | OIF Blog; “The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom extends its full support to the teachers and administrators of the Jordan School District, who are passionate in the education of their students.”
- Fake news or free speech: Is there a right to be misinformed? | ALA Member News; Freedom to Read Foundation webinar on Friday, October 12 at 1 p.m. Central
- Nominations open for 2019 IFRT John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award | ALA Member News; “This award, presented annually, honors notable contributions to intellectual freedom and demonstrations of personal courage in defense of freedom of expression by a living individual, group or organization. The award consists of a citation and $500.”
Censorship
- Scituate school officials deem ‘Monster’ inappropriate for middle school students | Wicked Local Scituate (MA)
- Thinking for myself; one reviewer’s thoughts on a few challenged books | OIF Blog
- How the federal government banned a book (mine) in NYC in 2018 | History News Network
- ‘To scandalize children is a sin’: Protesters gather during drag queen story time event | ABC 13 (TX)
- Controversial book leads to teacher suspension | Emporia Gazette (KS)
- Trustees could adopt library rules in October | Cody Enterprise (WY) (Policy follow-up on 2017 challenge to A Bad Boy Can Be Good For a Girl)
- Watchung Hills board votes to keep ‘Fun Home’ in curriculum amid parent concerns | Echoes-Sentinel (NJ)
- Kidz Bop’s “censored” songs aren’t just annoying — they’re problematic | Vox
- Battle brews over banned books and evolution — but the solution is simple | Washington Examiner
Banned Books Week
- How Guantánamo, the Navy base with book-banning prison, marks Banned Books Week | Charlotte Observer | Charlotte Observer (NC)
- Should parents restrict what their kids read? This book expert says no | Romper (Interview with OIF Director Jamie LaRue)
- What to do for Banned Books Week? | Knowledge Quest
- Conflicting visions? | OIF Blog; “The Jewish High Holy days have recently passed and today begins another type of holy day or Holy Week, actually, although this one is strictly secular in its origins. It doesn’t always get a lot of press, but it is celebrated by librarians, booksellers, and bibliophiles alike. Today marks the beginning of Banned Books Week.”
Privacy
- Why we need a broader conversation about ed-tech privacy | IAPP
- Senators call for federal investigation of children’s apps | New York Times
- Facebook faces $1.6 billion fine as top EU regulator officially opens probe into data breach | CNBC
- Why should anybody trust Facebook with their personal data? | ReCode
- Privacy at an inflection point: Why the time has come for meaningful U.S. regulation | GeekWire
- Apple CEO Tim Cook says that it’s a ‘challenge’ getting Congress up to speed on the need for new privacy regulations | Business Insider
- The tech industry is suddenly pushing for federal privacy legislation. Watch out. | Washington Post
- AT&T CEO wants Congress to create privacy “rules of the road” | Hollywood Reporter
- Feds force suspect to unlock an Apple iPhone X with their face | Forbes
- Digital IDs are more dangerous than you think | Wired
See this week’s additional privacy news and updates on the Choose Privacy Everyday blog.
Net Neutrality and Broadband Access
- Justice Department files net neutrality lawsuit against the state of California | U.S. Department of Justice
- Feds sue California to stop net neutrality law | Pew Trusts Stateline
- Entire broadband industry sues California to stop net neutrality law | Ars Technica
- Everyone is suing everyone over net neutrality. Congress should step in. | Washington Post
Access
- It’s legal to watch porn at public libraries, but should it be? | Q13 Fox (WA)
- Police tasered him in a Manchester library. There’s video … but you can’t watch it. | New Hampshire Union-Leader
- Federal judge allows lawsuit challenging North Carolina ‘bathroom bill’ to proceed | Jurist
Copyright
- Keep copyright office in Library of Congress | American Libraries
Free Press, Social Media, and Fake News
- The web is broken, so its founder is taking another stab at it | Quartz
- Alex Jones Sues PayPal Over Ban, Seeks Reinstatement | MediaPost
- China is weaponizing online distraction | Washington Post
- Fake news comes to academia | Wall Street Journal
- Tech was supposed to be society’s great equalizer. What happened? | The Atlantic
- Brett Kavanaugh and the information terrorists trying to reshape America | Wired
- How the Kavanaugh information war mirrors real warzones | Wired
- To break a hate speech algorithm, try ‘love’ | Wired
- Why did these scholars suddenly find their Twitter accounts suspended? | Chronicle of Higher Education
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- 3 ways that colleges suppress a diversity of viewpoints | Chronicle of Higher Education
- When college students self-censor, society loses | The Hill
First Amendment and Free Speech
- A black student refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance — challenging Texas law requiring it | The Washington Post
- Complaint prompts Utah’s Dixie State University to remove Bible, Book of Mormon from hotel rooms | Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
- Four people charged with federal crimes in connection with 2017 Charlottesville rally | KREM-TV (WA)
- Federal appeals court finds Washington county’s refusal to run anti-terrorist bus ad unconstitutional | Jurist
Around the Web
- No more prison book donations: PA’s War on Drugs | OIF Blog
- How the act of reading changes lives | OIF Blog
- How to make my classroom more like a library | OIF Blog
- Happy birthday, Jay Asher! | OIF Blog
- The long, strange history of the Presidential text alert | Wired
- Kanye West’s ‘SNL’ performance of ‘I Love It’ may raise some eyebrows | Bustle
International Issues
- No ‘Divine Comedy,’ no ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude.’ Book banning in Kuwait draws the ire of the intellectual class | Los Angeles Times
- East Jerusalem students get textbooks month into new school year due to Israeli censor | Haaretz
- Did France just make it effectively impossible to use Twitter? | Tech Dirt
- Should the law be used to curb hate speech in Nigeria? | Brookings Institute
- Robert Mapplethorpe’s work still has the power to cause a censorship scandal | Quartzy
- Journalist associations in Brazil protest against ‘censorship’ after Supreme Court ministers ban Lula’s interview with the press | Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas
- O Canada: Documentary on censorship in Canada censored for talking about censorship? | The Rebel
ALA News
- My Library, My Story: ALA president announces new social media initiative, six-city tour | American Libraries
- Museum and Library Services Act Introduced | American Libraries
- GLBTRT seeks nominations for 2019 awards recognizing outstanding service to the LGBTQ community | ALA News
- Volunteer to serve on ALA, Council, and joint committees for 2019 – 2021 | ALA Member News
- National writing contest launches to engage communities with literature | ALA News
- Nominations open for 2019 EMIERT Distinguished Librarian Award | ALA News
- Joint Conference of Librarians of Color 2018 embraces culture, community | ALA News
- ASGCLA’s Announces New Mentoring Program | ALA Member News
- New Technology Planning LITA Guide is Out Now | ALA Member News
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