Highlights

• APALA condemns rise in xenophobia and racism due to the novel coronavirus outbreak
• ALA Statement on COVID-19 | American Libraries
• Libraries Respond: Combating Xenophobia and Fake News in light of COVID-19 | American Library Association
• Green-Dots Mean Go — How One Librarian Protects Her Students’ Privacy | Intellectual Freedom Blog
• Pandemic Preparedness: Resources for Libraries | American Library Association

Censorship

• Censoring Anne Frank: how her famous diary has been edited through history | History Extra
• In a plan to bring yoga to Alabama schools, Stretching is allowed. ‘Namaste’ isn’t. | New York Times
• South Carolina Court Strikes Outdated Anti-LGBTQ Curriculum Law as Unconstitutional | Lambda Legal Defense Fund
• Hachette says it won’t publish Woody Allen’s book | New York Times
  • Woody Allen’s memoirs: this is the behaviour of censors, not publishers | The Guardian
  • No, Hachette Cancelling Woody Allen’s Book is Not Censorship | Pajiba
• MO Bill Proposes Parental Review Board for “Age-Inappropriate” Material, Legal Penalties for Noncompliance | Library Journal
• Will library bill lead to censorship? | Tullahoma News (TN)

Privacy and Cybersecurity

• On balancing personal privacy with public interest | IAPP Privacy Advisor
• House Passes Bill Preserving F.B.I. Surveillance Powers | The New York Times
• Why your privacy could be threatened by a bill to protect children | CNET
• Free speech isn’t a free pass for privacy violations | Slate
• We Asked TV Owners to Find Their Privacy Settings. Here’s What Happened. | Consumer Reports
• How to stop your smart home spying on you | The Guardian
• Student privacy laws still apply if coronavirus just closed your school | Ars Technica
• Dressing for the Surveillance Age | The New Yorker

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

Access and Service in a Time of Coronavirus

• Coronavirus bill lifts some restrictions on telehealth | Multichannel News
• Coronavirus school closures expose digital haves and have-nots | Wall Street Journal
  • Coronavirus School Closings Expose Digital Divide | U.S. News & World Report
• A Mini Clearinghouse on Coronavirus, Created by Two School Librarians | School Library Journal
• AT&T waives data cap during coronavirus; Comcast keeps charging overage fees | Ars Technica
• The government couldn’t shut down the internet, right? Think again. | Washington Post
• Amazing (and Free) Resources from the Library of Congress | Knowledge Quest
• Libraries and pandemic preparedness | American Libraries
• After the census: How to use the “mother of open data sets” more than once a decade | American Libraries

Net Neutrality & Broadband

• Opinion: How Trump’s attack on net neutrality created a legal mess for the entire internet | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
• FCC under fire from senators over rural broadband funding limitations | The Verge
• Coronavirus exposes the digital divide’s toll | Axios

Academic Freedom & Campus Speech

• Coronavirus and the great online-learning experiment | Chronicle of Higher Ed

Libraries & Hate Crimes

• Noose found hanging in Hillside Public Library | Metro Times

Fake News, Free Press, Social Media

• Trump escalates fight against press with libel lawsuits | The Hill
• Surge of misinformation stumps Facebook and Twitter | New York Times
• To Fight Covid-19, Curb the Spread of Germs—and Rumors | Wired
• Twitter expands hateful conduct rules to ban dehumanizing speech around age, disability and now, disease | TechCrunch
• Facebook pulls Trump campaign ads for fake census claims | Ars Technica
• Music criticism in the time of stans and haters | Columbia Journalism Review

First Amendment & Free Speech

• Redefining Free Speech for the Digital Age | Slate
• WV Bible class bill heads to governor | Charleston Gazette-Mail (WV)
  • House to consider controversial proposal to make Bible the official state book | Tennessean
• When Protestors Carry Guns, Does It Impede Others’ Free Speech? | The Trace

Around the Web

• Cyber Safety In Schools: Why It’s Time To Think Beyond Your Content Filter | Security Boulevard
• Voices for a more complete women’s history | Intellectual Freedom Blog
• ‘Song of the South’ Will Never Be On Disney+, Bob Iger Confirms | /Film
• American Dirt: Book review and controversy analysis | Intellectual Freedom Blog
• Censoring Anne Frank: how her famous diary has been edited through history | History Extra
• Satire’s Censors Should Lighten Up | Foundation for Economic Education
• The love of reading is the love of freedom | Courier-Tribune (NC)
• Little Free Library Unveils 100,000 Box, Celebrates with Giveaway | School Library Journal

International Issues

• Chinese social media censoring ‘officially sanctioned facts’ on coronavirus | The Guardian
• Toronto’s head librarian digs in deeper in her defence of free speech | National Post
• Woody Allen memoir may still go ahead in France, despite controversy | The Guardian
• We Will Publish Woody Allen’s Axed Book, RT Editor Says | The Moscow Times
• Made-in-China Censorship for Sale | Wall Street Journal
• Fighting censorship with emoji | Abacus
• How a huge Minecraft library is fighting global censorship | Creative Review

ALA News

• Public Library Association announces 2020 award winners
• America’s libraries report for duty as 2020 census opens
• ALCTS presents a guide to graphic novels
• AASL to host webinars for school library preparation faculty and instructors; Tuesday, March 24
• 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
• Learn how to build your own digital scholarship/humanities curriculum with this LITA webinar; April 22
• K-8 libraries invited to apply for $5,000 award recognizing outstanding programming; due May 4

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