February 6, 2017 – Collated by OIF Staff and News Interns

Intellectual Freedom Highlights

• A Unified Voice: Confronting an Assault on Information | Library Journal; This is not a partisan issue; it is about information access and defending a culture that celebrates and benefits from the robust discourse possible only when information and ideas can be shared openly. That seems so obvious that the need to state it is disturbing to me. Our work to protect freedom of inquiry and expression is never done, but it is more critical than ever in this heated and rapidly evolving environment.
• Mangaman: The power and weakness of policy | Intellectual Freedom Blog; The issue here is that resolve the concern allows for removal of materials without a formal request being filed. Other materials covered under Section 5 of the policy all have to go through a formal re-evaluation process before they can be removed. Library materials may not have to do so. The phrase resolve the concern is too vague, leaving it open to arbitrary decisions by school administrators who are under pressure not to upset the complainant, rock the boat, or generate negative publicity.

Censorship

• Jay High bans book from Celebrate Literacy Week | Santa Rosa’s Press Gazette
• Popular book taken off school’s primary reading list in Mystic | KABC 790
• State Board of Education rejects proposal to require notifying parents about explicit materials | Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
• Virginia rejects attempt to make schools warn parents of ‘explicit’ books | The Guardian
• Censorship: Not the fake news tool we’re looking for | Intellectual Freedom Blog
• CDC’s canceled Climate Change Summit raises self-censorship concerns | Scientific American
• Scientists are about to be censored. They shouldn’t censor themselves. | Slate
• Trump is copying the Bush censorship playbook. Scientists aren’t standing for it | The Guardian
• Eight states censor LGBTQ topics in school. Now, a lawsuit is challenging that | PBS News Hour
• Stonington parents expected to speak out after ‘Animal Farm’ is dropped | WTNH News 8 (CT)
• ‘Animal Farm’ not banned, school officials say; parents not satisfied | The Day (CT)
• Bill protecting student journalists from censorship advances | Tucson.com (AZ)
• The codification of web DRM as a censorship tool | Techdirt.com
• What kids read is again stirring debate. Here’s why | Chesterfield Observer; “Literature and its appropriateness for young people seems to be a perennial hot topic, one that Chesterfield witnessed first-hand last year in the controversy surrounding the school system’s summer reading list.”

Hate Crimes in Libraries

• Northbrook civility seminar to follow swastika graffiti found at library and high school | Chicago Tribune
• Mokena woman arrested after making racist comments at library, police say | Chicago Tribune

Access

• Why personalized learning should start in school libraries | eSchool News
• Kids’ books recognized for disability storylines | DisabilityScoop
• Appeals court backs Injunction for ELL program sought by refugee students | Education Week

Privacy

• Why colleges’ pledges to shield data on international students don’t mean much | Chronicle of Higher Education
• Canada pushing back against Trump’s biometric screening plan | IAPP
• The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet | TeachPrivacy
• The Digital Person: Technology and Privacy in the Information Age | TeachPrivacy (free ebook download)
• You’ve probably never heard of this creepy genealogy site. But it knows a lot about you. | Washington Post
• Online privacy, immigration, clean energy, and more in Neil Gorsuch’s own words | Ars Technica
• Trump must address European concerns about Privacy Shield, tech firms say | IAPP
• U.S. government begins asking foreign travelers about social media | Politico
• The Privacy Paradox | WYNC Note to Self
• Protecting Teen Privacy | YALSA Blog

Internet Filters

• Senate panel OKs bill to block pornography on library Wi-Fi | Deseret News

Net Neutrality

• Ajit Pai on net neutrality: I favor an open Internet and I oppose Title II | Ars Technica
• At State of the Net, questions linger over FTC, FCC’s regulatory abilities | IAPP

Academic Freedom

• S.D. Senate OKs alternative teachings on scientific theories | Argus Leader (SD)
• SB 55: Academic Freedom Or Anti-Science? | SDPB Radio
• Group started to support professors criticized for comparing founding fathers to terrorists | The Scribe (CA)
• Antipsychiatry scholarship provokes academic freedom debate | Times Higher Education
• Exeter student US trip ban ‘undermines academic freedom’ | BBC
• Standing up to trolls: AAUP says institutions need to defend professors targeted for online harassment due to their political views | Inside Higher Ed
• CLCM faculty statement regarding political harassment and academic freedom | The Daily (WA)

First Amendment Issues

• Librarianship in the age of alternative facts | Intellectual Freedom Blog
• Staying informed while the press is under attack | Intellectual Freedom Blog
• Berkeley cancels Milo Yiannopoulos speech, and Donald Trump tweets outrage | New York Times
• In tweet, Trump threatens Berkeley with loss of federal funds over protests | Chronicle of Higher Education
• The counterargument to Milo Yiannopoulos at UC Berkeley | The Daily Californian
• Violence and censorship rule at UC Berkeley | Watchdog.org
• Mayhem at Berkeley hardens new battle lines on free speech | Chronicle of Higher Education
• Freedom of assembly and Edwards v. South Carolina: Protecting the peaceful expression of unpopular views | Newseum
• DIA explains why spontaneous protests aren’t allowed | 9 News (CO)
• Denver police to protesters: ‘Stop doing anything that could be construed as free speech’ | Raw Story

Around the Web

• The information war has begun | Medium
• Literary boon in 7 banned countries on ‘the list’ | Daily Republic
• J.K. Rowling Is Shutting Down Readers Who Burned All Their Harry Potter Books | Time
  • A history of Harry Potter books being burned — and J.K. Rowling’s perfect responses | Polygon
• Free ebook: The Fear of Barbarians: Beyond the Clash of Civilizations | University of Chicago Press
• The censorship conspiracy theories have begun, And media organistions should be very worried | Forbes
• Inauguration? Yes. Trump’s speech? No, teacher tells parents | USA Today
• Curses! Vulgar book titles rack up sales | Wall Street Journal Video
• How Lego built a social network for kids that’s not creepy | Wired
• Gun research will get even more difficult under NRA-friendly Trump | Wired
• Banned books does not mean bad books | The Eagle (NE)
• NCAC responds to American University museum’s removal of controversial sculpture | NCAC Blog
• Tim Cook named recipient of the Free Expression Award | Newseum

International Issues

• Academic freedom in Turkey: Theresa May has a choice to make | Times Higher Education
• Once-banned kids book ‘Into the River’ gets movie deal | The Southland Times (New Zealand)
• Outcry in Libya after police seize books they consider un-Islamic | The Observers
• China’s Asian Winter Games athletes unlikely to stay at hotel linked to Nanking Massacre book | South China Morning Post
• Saskatoon library didn’t violate Brad Trost’s freedom of speech, says U of S prof | CBS News (Canada)
• Japanese court rules against paedophile in ‘right to be forgotten’ online case | The Guardian
• Ireland’s First Circuit Court Decision on the Right to be Forgotten | Lexology
• The ePrivacy Regulation: It’s not just about cookies anymore | IAPP

Office for Intellectual Freedom News

• Report Censorship: Defend the public’s freedoms

ALA News

• American Library Association announces 2017 youth media award winners
• ALA opposes new administration policies that contradict core values
• Registration and housing open for the 2017 ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition in Chicago
• ALA affirms support for NEH, NEA

 

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