October 27, 2017 – Collated by OIF Staff and News Interns

Intellectual Freedom Highlights

• Securing Patron Privacy, ALCTS webinar on Wednesday, November 8 at 1 pm Central; “Article III of the ALA Code of Ethics reads “We protect each library user’s right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted.” But do we, when those materials are online? Can we? How?”
• Tackling Fake News, an American Libraries Live Webcast on Wednesday, November 1 at 1 pm Eastern; “How can help our users filter the real from the fake? How can we maintain our professional obligation to ensure equal access to information in a politically charged time where it seems like not all information is created equal?”

Censorship

• Politics at play when banning books | YouGov; “55% of Republicans think that texts with homosexual or transgender characters should be banned from elementary school libraries.”
• Biloxi school district resumes teaching on banned novel | WAPT News; “School officials said they’ll begin teaching it again in class starting Monday. Students, however, have to ask to participate and return a permission slip signed by a parent.”
  • ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ banned in Mississippi school: ASU reacts | The State Press
  • Why ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ belongs in the classroom | National Review
• Lawrence school officials weight how to teach ‘Huckleberry Finn’ | Lawrence Journal-World (KS)
• ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ still flies in Montana schools, but other books face challenges | Billings Gazette
• Florida community pushes back against superintendent’s ban on ‘inappropriate’ books | CBLDF

Privacy

• ALERT: Library patrons in 10 western Wisconsin counties affected in data breach | 25News
• How lobbyists convinced lawmakers to kill a broadband privacy bill | Ars Technica
• Happy Patriot Act Day! | Just Security
• Senate diverges over renewal of internet spying law | Reuters
• Court Rules Public Records on Personal Email Accounts Are Subject to Release | Seven Days
• FTC relaxes COPPA rule so kids can issue voice searches and commands | TechCrunch
• Looking for privacy in all the wrong places | Townhall (USA PATRIOT Act)
• Government surveillance threatens free speech: Support for the USA RIGHTS Act and opposition to DHS social media protocols | NCAC
• Why governments should protect us from barely-taxed tech monopolies | The Guardian

See this week’s additional privacy news and updates on the Choose Privacy Week blog.

Access

• San Francisco just took a huge step toward internet utopia | Wired
• Openness and the decline of the textbook author | Inside Higher Ed
• This textbook innovation will save your college student a lot of money | The Kansas City Star
• Judge strikes down Kentucky’s social media ban for sex offenders | Lexington Herald Leader
• Open access without tears – 2017 edition | Inside Higher Ed
• Lawyer of murder suspect argues for client’s access to law library | ABC Fox Montana
• Here’s how you can borrow books from the State Library | News & Observer; “For the first time in its 200-year history, the Government & Heritage Library at the State Library of North Carolina is issuing library cards to state residents and letting them take home books and other items from its extensive historical collection.”
• New online: A digital treasure trove of rare books | Library of Congress Blog
• The Boston Public Library is digitizing 200,000 vintage recordings | Smithsonian

Free Press, Social Media, and Fake News

• What do ordinary people think fake news is? Poor journalism and political propaganda. | Columbia Journalism Review
• How to spot fake stock photos (and attribute the right person) | How-To Geek
• PragerU sues YouTube, says it censors conservative videos | Ars Technica
• Trump’s already largely won his war against the media | Washington Post

Net Neutrality and Broadband Access

• A public focused approached to net neutrality | Tech Dirt
• A legislative solution for net neutrality may be close | Forbes
• FCC likely to use Thanksgiving holiday to hide its unpopular plan to kill net neutrality | Tech Dirt
• FCC won’t vote on net neutrality in November | Tech Crunch
• F.C.C. to Loosen Rules on Local Media Ownership | New York Times

Academic Freedom/ Campus Speech

• Hate speech is protected free speech, even on college campuses | Vox
• There is no 1st Amendment right to speak on a college campus | Vox
• Shouting down speakers doesn’t work | Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
• Freedom of expression on campus: An overview of some recent surveys | The Washington Post
• In the age of Trump, a chilling atmosphere | Moyers & Company
• The assault on academic freedom at UCLA | The College Fix
• Free speech on campus | The New York Times
• Clemson student leader, who sat during pledge of allegiance as protest, is impeached | Chronicle of Higher Education
• Bard president responds to critics of far-right figure’s talk | Chronicle of Higher Education
• No first amendment protection for professor who spoke out against cheating students | The Newseum

First Amendment Issues

• State asks U.S. Supreme Court to take case involving abusive language | Hartford Courant
• The Daily 202: The corrosion of support for First Amendment principles started before Trump. He’s supercharged it | The Washington Post
• When can private entities censor speech? | The Atlantic
• Shouting down free speech | The Newseum
• Do restrictions on clothing donation bins violate the first amendment? | The Newseum

Around the Web

• Librarians: It’s Time to Get on the Front Lines | Education Week
• VIEWS Banning LGBTQ+ children’s book will not erase us | Windy City Times
• Kirkus Reviews and the plight of the “problematic” book review | The New Yorker
• Angry librarian goes on brutal Twitter rant after journalist suggests closing all libraries | Salon
• On literature and race: What stories get told? And by whom? | Chicago Tribune
• Scott Pruitt and EPA accused of scientific censorship after pulling climate researchers from conference | Newsweek
• Escondido library to be run by Maryland company | San Diego Reader
• How a better library can change a child’s life | CNN
• Spider-Man versus censorship: A short history of the Comics Code | IF Blog

International Issues

• The UK no longer has a national public library system | The Guardian
• China has launched another crackdown on the internet – but it’s different this time | CNBC
• UK universities fear censorship after lawmaker asks how they teach Brexit | Reuters
• Determined undergrad helps school in Nigeria rebuild after terrorist attack | UVA Today

ALA News

• Submit Questions for ALA’s Hate Speech FAQ | As ALA moves into a second year of collecting reports of hate crimes in libraries, the Office for Intellectual Freedom will be creating a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) resource. We would really appreciate your help in creating a thorough and comprehensive document that will help educators, library staff, and trustees navigate this sensitive topic.
• ALA announces $500,000 in first-time grants to develop coding programs in libraries | PR Newswire
• ALA, EBSCO provide opportunity for five librarians to attend ALA Midwinter Meeting
• Intellectual freedom opportunities at the AASL National Conference | Knowledge Quest

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