Highlights

• Proposed “Parental Oversight Bill” could lead to censorship in public libraries, opponents say | WBIR (TN)
• TLA Statement on the Parental Oversight Bill | Tennessee Library Association
• ALA opposes proposed Tennessee law that threatens state’s freedom to read: “Tennessee HB 2721 threatens library users’ freedom to read and violates our professional values and ethics expressed in the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights. If adopted, the bill would establish ‘parental oversight boards’ whose decisions about what others can read, view, and access in the library would be final.”

Censorship

• Ban drag queens today, Bibles tomorrow? | Creators Syndicate
• Small Town Pushes Back Against Library’s Drag Queen Event For Young Children. Now It’s A Battle. | The Daily Wire
• Florida Senate panel backs ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights,’ requires schools to share information | Tallahassee Democrat

Privacy and Cybersecurity

• DNA Databases Are Boon to Police But Menace to Privacy, Critics Say | Pew
• How Public Libraries Can Help Close America’s Digital Privacy Divide | Inside Sources
• Bill gives Iowans chance to ‘forget’ bad tweets | Cedar Rapids Gazette (IA)
  • Iowa Right to Removal Legislation Unconstitutional | Volokh Conspiracy
• ISPs sue Maine, claim Web-privacy law violates their free-speech rights | Ars Technica
• The U.S. needs a data protection agency – Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand | Medium
• Surprise! Audit finds automated license plate reader programs are a nightmare | Tech Crunch
• Ring and Nest Helped Normalize American Surveillance and Turned Us into a Nation of Voyeurs | The Washington Post
• Mass Surveillance and Black Legal History | American Constitutional Society

Additional privacy posts, news, and updates are available at the Choose Privacy Every Day blog.

Access

• Public library ebook partnerships books K-12 reading | Library Journal
• Must my library accommodate service and support animals? | American Libraries
• Ten lessons for school librarians leading district OER initiatives and curation efforts | Knowledge Quest

Net Neutrality & Broadband

• America’s monopoly and antitrust problem, explained by your internet bill | Vox
• We need to talk about ‘Cloud Neutrality’ | Wired
• Many Americans can’t afford broadband and the FCC doesn’t care | Vice

Academic Freedom & Campus Speech

• Censorship concerns at UW Milwaukee | Inside Higher Education
• Proposed bill would monitor speakers on Arizona college campuses | KOLD (AZ)
• OU professor’s use of racial slur may not be protected, First Amendment expert says | OUDaily
• A professor was called a pedophile because of his work. Academics are keeping their distance. | The Intercept
• Constitutional rights are priceless—someone should tell the 11th Circuit | The Hill (Opinion)

Fake News, Free Press, Social Media

• Corporations are working with the Trump administration to control online speech | Washington Post
• Lawmakers kill social media censorship bill | Argus Leader (SD)
• Censorship and fake news could ruin the internet, if we let it | Inverse
• Evidence that conservative students really do self-censor | The Atlantic
• TikTok introduces new parental controls | The Hill

First Amendment & Free Speech

• Transgender pronoun suit dismissed: Judge said prof’s preference isn’t protected by First Amendment | Ironton (OH) Tribune
• Google v. Oracle: Tech battle ultimately about free speech | Freedom Forum Institute
• A newspaper silencing their own reporter: what about free speech? | Intellectual Freedom Blog

Around the Web

• Super Bowl commercials while librarianing| Intellectual Freedom Blog
• Congressional candidate claims censorship at WBCA air show in viral video | LMT Online
• Nine things that have happened since they banned the publication of my book by Beverly Naidoo | Female First
• ‘Empower Native kids to read’: 2020 American Indian Youth Literature Awards presented in Philadelphia | Navajo-Hopi Observer
• Organizations rally library advocates—again—to oppose cuts in proposed federal budget | School Library Journal

International Issues

• Zuckerberg tells EU regulators Facebook wants more content liability | Wall Street Journal
• The church, universities, and Poland | Inside Higher Education

ALA News

• ALA responds to financial shortfall | American Libraries
• ALA receives two grants to help libraries in Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands
• Joint Working Group on eBooks and Digital Content in Libraries addresses library concerns
• Update from the Deaf Culture Forum at ALA Midwinter
• Games and Gaming Round Table announces Game On! Grants; deadline March 1
• ALA awards deadline extended; March 2
• Application open for 2020 ALA Leadership Institute; deadline March 9
• ALSC and ACM accepting applications for Forum on Service to Immigrants/Refugees, due March 31
• ALA calls for 2020 L. Ray Patterson Copyright Award nominations | due April 1
• ALA seeks proposals for 2020 Diversity Research Grants; due April 15
• K-8 libraries invited to apply for $5,000 award recognizing outstanding programming; due May 4

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