Intellectual Freedom News 3/2/2018
March 2, 2018 – Collated by OIF Staff and News Editors
Intellectual Freedom Highlights
- ALA Council adopts Library Bill of Rights Interpretation on Visual and Performing Arts
- ALA joins operations #OneMoreVote: ALA has been working closely with allies to support Senate legislation to restore 2015’s strong, enforceable net neutrality rules. Find out what you can do!
- The “uncompromising” compromise of Beaverton School District’s book ban | OIF Blog; “Unfortunately, banning books that address prevalent issues within our society creates social stigmas for youth whose lived experiences mirror the stories found in print. To say that certain real-life themes are inappropriate for youth, based on one person’s beliefs, trivializes the experiences of so many others.”
Censorship
- Meridian School District pulls Looking for Alaska from middle school libraries | Boise Weekly (ID)
- Banning LGBTQ books sends a message: You’re not welcome here | Des Moines Register (IA)
- The Exchange, Feb 28, 2018: Orange City Library Books Controversy [45 min podcast discussion] | Siouxland Public Media (IA)
- The fallout from Florida’s school censorship law | CBLDF
- Middle-grade author responds to queer-themed book controversy | Entertainment Weekly; ‘P.S. I Love You’
- The online censorship of a 30,000 year old statuette: Facebook puts the kibosh on Venus of Willendorf | Atlas Obscura
- On the body: What transgender history can teach us about censorship | OIF Blog
Privacy
- Privacy for Whom? | The New Inquiry; Two new books show that for the poor, privacy has never been on offer.
- U.S. Supreme Court wrestles with Microsoft data privacy fight | Reuters
- Must Tech Firms Provide Data Held Abroad? Justices Struggle to Apply 1986 Law | New York Times
- Supreme Court Skeptical of Microsoft’s Ireland E-Mail Privacy Claims | Scientific American
- How to turn off Facebook’s face recognition features | Wired
- We can, but should we? When trends challenge our professional values | American Libraries
See this week’s additional privacy news and updates on the Choose Privacy Week blog.
Net Neutrality and Broadband Access
- ‘Closing The Digital Divide’: Connecting The Least Connected In Texas | Texas Public Radio
- Inside the huge, low-profile alliance to save the FCC’s net neutrality rules | The Washington Post
- The Wired guide to net neutrality | Wired
- Net neutrality battles move to the states, Congress, and the courts | Consumer Reports
- NRA gives FCC Chair Ajit Pai Charlton Heston award for net neutrality repeal | Variety
- The FCC just gave net neutrality supporters 60 days to save the web as we know it | Fortune
- Democrats submit plan to save net neutrality, still one vote short in Senate | Ars Technica
Access
- San Diego may eliminate library fines to avoid cutting off the poor | Los Angeles Times
- After man allegedly viewed, printed child porn at Northlake Library, officials crack down on internet policy | Chicago Tribune
- Libraries are a space where everyone belongs | The Nation
- What is access without equity? | American Libraries
- The last thing Americans needs are fewer library hours | The Hill
Filters
- State lawmakers want to block pornography at the expense of your free speech, privacy, and hard-earned cash | EFF; “Human Trafficking Prevention Act”
- Is Porn Addiction Real or Pseudoscience? | The Stranger
Free Press, Social Media, and Fake News
- What Facebook isn’t saying about Trump and Clinton’s ads | Wired
- Delaware school district removes comments supporting gun control protest from Facebook | NCAC
- An unusual First Amendment fight on the Chesapeake Bay | Columbia Journalism Review
Academic Freedom and Campus Speech
- ACRL Webinar: Free Speech on Campuses Today; Tuesday, May 1st @ 12 noon EST
- Georgia Senate passes campus speech bill | The Atlanta-Journal Constitution
- State legislatures have a duty to protect free speech at public universities | Forbes
- Woody Allen and academic freedom | Inside Higher Ed
- Richard Spencer will speak at Michigan State – Way out on a farm | The Chronicle of Higher Education
- Protecting free speech or license to discriminate? | KCCI
- From restrictive-speech codes to virtue-signaling statements: Is there a better way? | OIF Blog
First Amendment and Free Speech
- N.R.A. logo? No. #MeToo shirt? Maybe. Justices weight political apparel at the polls | The New York Times
- In free speech case, Justices troubled by Fla. man’s arrest | The New York Times
- House passes sex trafficking bill that could limit free speech online | Ars Technica
- Indie documentary examines film censorship | OIF Blog
Around the Web
- They Were Trained for This Moment | Slate
- Bias already exists in search engine results, and it’s only going to get worse | MIT Technology Review
- Suspect in custody after fatal double stabbing at Boston Public Library | NBC Connecticut
- Once it was overdue books. Now librarians fight overdoses | The New York Times
- Fight for school libraries | American Libraries
- Sherman Alexie breaks silence on sexual harassment allegations | School Library Journal
- Here’s what the EPA’s website looks like after a year of climate change censorship | Time
- A (short) reading list to make your gun debate smarter | OIF Blog
International Issues
- Vietnamese journalist faces arrest for banned book | UCAnews.com
- Data investigation raises concerns over privacy in hospitals | Irish Times
- China censorship over Xi Jinpeng presidency extension proposal | BBC
- Why Spanish courts censor art, speech and rap lyrics | The Economist
ALA News
- New eCourse—Online Privacy & Security: Best Practices for Librarians. 5-week facilitated eCourse starting on Monday, March 12, 2018.
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