Intellectual Freedom News 2/19/2021
Highlights
- Three Bylaws Amendments on the 2021 IFRT Ballot: Review the Proposed Changes
- ACLU, civil rights groups urge Biden to halt use of facial recognition technology | The Hill
Censorship
- Local And State NAACP Call For Removal Of Cabarrus County Public Library Mural | WCCB Charlotte
- N.C. NAACP: Remove ‘historic’ mural at Concord library | Independent Tribune
- Lafayette Public Library Board of Control releases statement after recent controversies | KATC 3 (LA)
- Open Letter to Utah’s Murray City School District Officials | PEN America
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- State Privacy Bills Reemerge as Momentum Grows Nationwide | Bloomberg Law
- Minneapolis passes restrictions on facial recognition use by local police | Biometric Update
- New York’s Biometric Privacy Law The Latest To Curb Facial Recognition | Chief Executive
- Massive breach fuels calls for US action on cybersecurity | AP News
- How our outdated privacy laws doomed contact-tracing apps | Brookings
- Balancing Privacy With Data Sharing for the Public Good | New York Times
- Post-Pandemic Future: Implications for Privacy | EDUCAUSE
- Surveillance Technology and the Rule of Law | The Great Courses Daily
More privacy news is available at the Choose Privacy Every Day blog.
First Amendment, Free Speech, & Civil Liberties
- Educating Young Children on the Importance of Freedom of Speech | ALSC Blog
- Pro-Trump women’s group cannot paint mural on NYC streets, judge rules | Reuters
- NYC Beats Conservative Group’s Suit to Paint Street Murals | Bloomberg Law
- Court rules against Arkansas’ Israel boycott pledge law | The Washington Post
- Republicans in Florida and Elsewhere Respond to Black Lives Matter with Anti-Protest Bills | FlaglerLive
- How Attorneys Are Using a Post-Civil War Law to Go After Trump and White Supremacists | Law.com
- Profane anti-Biden flag causing controversy in Connecticut, around the nation | Hartford Courant
- Iowa Bill bans diversity training in schools, universities implying ‘Iowa is fundamentally racist or sexist’ | The Gazette (IA)
- In Win for Sex Shop, Sixth Circuit Strikes Down Kentucky Billboard Law | Courthouse News Service
- Critics fear civil rights bill asks too much of law enforcement | Santa Fe New Mexican
- New ACLU President On The Fight For Racial Justice | NPR/WFAE 90.7,
- West Virginia Supreme Court to hear arguments in case involving transgender student at Liberty High School | WVNews
- Failure in the Marketplace of Ideas: Censorship and Impeachment | The Jurist
Access
- On Homeless Women, Digital Engagement, and Social Inclusion | Benton Institute for Broadband and Society
- Where Are We: The Latest on Library Reopening Strategies | Library Journal
- NMSU Library cancels scholarly journal subscriptions as way to save money for budget | Las Cruces Sun-News
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
- In Rural Texas, Internet Access Is An Economic Development Issue | Texas Standard
- House Republicans propose nationwide ban on municipal broadband networks | Ars Technica
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- No ‘Social Justice’ in the Classroom: Statehouses Renew Scrutiny of Speech at Public Colleges | Chronicle of Higher Education
- Speech First Organization Sues University of Central Florida; Claims Free Speech Being Suppressed | News13 (FL)
- UW-Madison sued for allegedly hiding critical comments from its social media accounts | Madison.com
- After Iowa State syllabus controversy, legislation would make universities post course info online | The Gazette
- N.H. Professor Resigns Amid Twitter Probe | Inside Higher Ed
Social Media
- Undeterred by Facebook news blackout, Australia commits to content law | Reuters
- Facebook’s brazen attempt to crush regulations in Australia may backfire | Washington Post
- The Internet Is Splintering | New York Times
- FCC’s Rosenworcel Confirms Action Unlikely on Sec. 230 Petition | Multichannel News
- North Dakota’s Attempt to Legislate Around Section 230 Allows ‘Nazis to Sue You if You Report Their Content to Twitter’ | Law & Crime
- Democrats split over plan to require greater censorship of ads in Section 230 overhaul | Colorado Politics
- City candidates weigh in on social media conduct | Rutland Herald, Vermont
- Hoodwinked: Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour on Facebook | Institute for Strategic Dialogue
- How online platform transparency can improve content moderation and algorithmic performance | Brookings
- Inside the Making of Facebook’s Supreme Court | The New Yorker
Copyright
Journalism, Media, & Disinformation
- Nebraska senator introduces Free Speech Bill protecting student journalists | Gateway
- Pact In Works To Allow School Yearbook’s Spread on LGBTQ | Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
- Launching a news nonprofit in Fort Worth, Chris Cobler doesn’t want to “repeat the mistakes of the past” | Nieman Journalism Lab
- Don’t Go Down the Rabbit Hole: Critical thinking, as we’re taught to do it, isn’t helping in the fight against misinformation| The New York Times
- The Grim Consequences of a Misleading Study on Disinformation | Wired
- Deepfake porn is ruining women’s lives. Now the law may finally ban it. | MIT Technology Review
International News
- Heating Up Culture Wars, France to Scour Universities for Ideas That ‘Corrupt Society’ | New York Times
- Poland targets big tech with anti-censorship law | Reuters
- Facebook goes nuclear, banning all news posts in Australia | Ars Technica
- Opinion: In Hong Kong, freedom of expression is shrinking fast | Aljazeera
- China Nudges Accused Video Pirates Down the Plank, Stirring Frustration Over Censorship | The Wall Street Journal
- Cambodia: Internet Censorship, Control Expanded | Human Rights Watch
- EU civil rights groups want ban on biometric surveillance ahead of new laws | Reuters
Around the Web
- Librarian fired after allegedly burning books by Trump and Ann Coulter | Tennessee Star
- Neighbor or Martian? ‘Alien’ shift in the immigration debate | Los Angeles Times
- BU Student Government endorses in-person library boycott in response to denied workplace accommodation | The Daily Free Press (Boston University)
- Children’s books author Matt de la Peña tells it like it is | The San Diego Union-Tribune
- Hiding in plain sight: The early-twentieth-century beginnings of queer media | Columbia Journalism Review
- Opinion: Our public faces: security, civil liberties, and facial recognition technology | The Boston Globe
- Why Final Fantasy 12 Was Censored In Japan (But Not In The West) | ScreenRant
- How Ice-T stood against censorship and fought for the freedom of speech | Far Out Magazine
ALA News
- UPstander Dr. Omékongo Dibinga to open AASL National Conference
- YALSA seeks proposals for 2021 YA Services Symposium
ALA Publishing
- Young Activists and the Public Library: Facilitating Democracy
- A complete introduction to knowledge organization
Awards and Grants
eCourses and Webinars
- Social Justice and Intellectual Freedom Webinar Presented (Free!) by ALA Intellectual Freedom Round Table
- Improve Your Online Instruction through Assessment
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