Intellectual Freedom News 12/1/17
December 1, 2017 – Collated by OIF Staff and News Editors
Intellectual Freedom Highlights
- OIF by the numbers | Intellectual Freedom Blog; “Celebrating its 50th anniversary this December, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom was founded to ‘promote and protect the interests of intellectual freedom.’ […] Below are a few stats that highlight the work we’re proud to continue, and the obstacles our team is determined to tackle with your support.”
- Intellectual Freedom: A Response | Intellectual Freedom Blog; “As curators of collections, authorities on access or just plain bookworms, we have an important role to play right now. If, as professor Kendi states, intellectual freedom is based on exploring, changing, improving through the discovery of new ideas […] then we have an opportunity, because of our particular skill set, to help shift the conversation back to the center, or at least to try.”
- Many Americans, especially blacks and Hispanics, are hungry for help as they sort through information | Pew Research Center ; “A new analysis of a November 2016 Pew Research Center survey shows that 76% of U.S. adults say they would benefit “a lot” from having at least one of seven different kinds of help in accessing information that can help them make decisions.”
- Brooklyn, Queens, and New York Public Libraries Launch a New Digital Privacy Initiative | Choose Privacy Week
Censorship
- Breaking: The Hate U Give Banned by Katy, Texas School District | Book Riot
- Parents respond with outrage to book assigned to high schoolers in Baltimore | WBAL TV11 (MD)
- Cody High School urged to keep acclaimed book in school library | National Coalition Against Censorship
- New law makes it legal to challenge assigned reading in schools | (FL)
- New Florida law expected to increase textbook challenges | Denver Post
- Textbook challenges grow in Florida under new law | Orlando Sentinel
- Porn industry opposes effort to censor library computers | LA Weekly
- Why Texas prisoners can read Hitler, but not ‘The Color Purple’ | The Statesman
- Art censorship at Guantánamo Bay | The New York Times
- Russia says Google down-ranking Sputnik, RT would be censorship | Reuters
Privacy
- ALA joins the ACLU and 35 other nonprofit and civil society groups to sign a letter urging Congress to reject the “FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017,” which would expand Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and other surveillance authorities.
- Justices seem ready to boost protection of digital privacy | New York Times
- Extreme digital vetting of visitors to the U.S. moves forward under a new name | ProPublica
- Lawsuit aims to uncover how government surveils journalists | Columbia Journalism Review
- Staggering Variety of Clandestine Trackers Found in Popular Android Apps | The Intercept
- ‘Revenge porn’ bill would criminalize posting nude photos without consent nationwide | Mashable
- Human subjects, third parties, and the law | Inside Higher Education
- Amid attacks, teachers weigh their safety against student privacy | Pew Charitable Trust Stateline
- Student Privacy and Ed Tech | Federal Trade Commission
- See this week’s additional privacy news and updates on the Choose Privacy Week blog.
Access
- Don’t stop the presses! When local news struggles, democracy withers | Wired
- Graduate atudents mobilize ‘to stop something that can ruin us’ | Chronicle of Higher Education
- National library partnership tackles health literacy gap | Library Journal
- New findings for Every Child Ready to Read in public libraries | American Libraries
- How to become a copyright expert | School Library Journal
- The culture war being fought over tomorrow’s libraries | Co. Design
- How to prepare students for 2017’s Hour of Code next week | eSchoolNews
Hate Crimes in Libraries
- Racist graffiti gound in NYU library | NYU Local
Net Neutrality and Broadband Access
- Ajit Pai’s shell game | Wired
- Here’s how the end of net neutrality will change the internet | Wired
- What an internet analyst got wrong about net neutrality | Wired
- FCC’s plan to dismantle net neutrality rules raises serious concerns for educators | EdScoop
- Comcast deleted net neutrality pledge the same day FCC announced repeal | Ars Technica
- Comcast hints at plan for paid fast lanes after net neutrality repeal | Ars Technica
- Ajit Pai blames Cher and Hulk actor for ginning up net neutrality support | Ars Technica
- FCC explains why public support for net neutrality won’t stop repeal | Ars Technica
- Net neutrality supporters plan nationwide protests on December 7 | Ars Technica
- Net neutrality revisited, and more from CRS | Federation of American Scientists
Academic Freedom/ Campus Speech
- University of Nebraska faculty confronts attacks on academic freedom | Daily Nebraskan
- National faculty group says UNL violated academic due process of lecturer | Lincoln Journal Star (NE)
- Berkeley law prof slams efforts to ban ‘hate speech’ at Cornell | Campus Reform
- Rutgers president says anti-Semitic remarks by professors protected by ‘academic freedom’ | FOox News
- Far-right speaker Is arrested at U. of Connecticut after physical confrontation | Chronicle of Higher Education
First Amendment Issues
- Using ‘Free Speech’ to Trump Civil Rights | The Atlantic
- Drawing a Line in the ‘Gay Wedding Cake’ Case | New York Times
- ‘Revenge porn’ bill would criminalize posting nude photos without consent nationwide | Mashable
- Pa. Supreme Court to decide if rap song referencing fatal Stanton Heights shooting is art or threat | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- Owner of truck with vulgar anti-Trump sticker arrested on outstanding warrant | Fox News
- Supreme Court declines to take up prayers at school board meetings | Education Week
- Kentucky appeals court upholds teacher abuse law | Newseum
- High court to examine Minnesota law banning all political speech near polls | Newseum
Around the Web
- IFRT Interviews Erin Kennedy, Idaho’s IFC Chair | Intellectual Freedom Blog
- Writers Guild of America West leaders blast Trump for ‘vile display of prejudice’ | Variety
- How white parents are addressing racism – by reading to their children | Christian Science Monitor
- Some parents want ‘In Ned’s Head’ out of school libraries | Kezi.com (OR)
- Watch live as City Club forum discusses censorship in schools | Cleveland.com
- Nude art and censorship laid bare | CNN
- 9 classic books that are actually way more subversive than you thought | Bustle
- The origin of Silicon Valley’s dysfunctional attitude toward hate speech | The New Yorker
- Meet the artist bucking censorship one NSFW collage at a time | PaperMag
- Libraries are for the homeless, the drifters and the snorers – people like me | New Statesman
International Issues
- Library cancels anti-Islam film screening | CBC News
- Controversial children’s book Into The River’s racy content inspires law change | New Zealand Herald
- This mum wants Sleeping Beauty removed from her child’s curriculum | BBC
- How Coco Beat China’s Censorship With Feelings | Bleeding Cool
- Zimbabwean scholars hope for academic freedom and new leaders | Times Higher Education
- Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code banned in Turkish prison due to emergency rule | Turkey Purge
- Data bill means censorship, BBC warns | The Times (UK)
- Language and censorship stir Singapore filmmakers | Variety
- Zunar interrogated over cartoon as judge dismisses travel ban challenge | CBLDF
ALA News
- ALA announces winners of the 2017 I Love My Librarian Award
- Applications available for ALA Awards and Grants
- Get your digital life decoded – a LITA webinar Tuesday, December, 12, 1:00-2:30 Central time
- PLA Webinar to introduce core concepts related to equity, diversity, and inclusion in libraries Tuesday, December 5, 1:00-2:00 Central time
- Academic library workers invited to free dialogue and deliberation workshop at Midwinter 2018
- AASL sets new standards with National Conference & Exhibition, providing school librarians with tools to think, create, share and grow
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