Intellectual Freedom News 3/31/2017
March 31, 2017 – Collated by OIF Staff and News Interns
Intellectual Freedom Highlights
- How Libraries Can Respond to the Repeal of the FCC Privacy Rules | IF Blog; While the FCC may be barred from adopting new privacy rules, Congress itself can propose and adopt a privacy regime that will protect individuals’ data. Librarians and patrons alike can let their elected officials know that they support laws that protect individuals’ online privacy.
- ‘The fight of our generation’ | Inside Higher Ed; “Seeking to energize its thousands of members to act before then, the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association, used last week’s biennial national conference to give the roughly 3,500 in attendance a crash course in advocacy.”
- Beware – This post includes banned illustrations | IF Blog; “The average reader and buyer presented with the U.S. published edition will most likely never see the original edition or be able to question why the images don’t match up. Is this really the state of affairs that is desired? Do we want a public space where outcry and challenges to books are so prevalent that instead of risking offending anyone and then possibly hurting sales, books are carefully curated and altered in order to not cause any ripples?”
- Freedom to Read Foundation offers 2017 Banned Books Week grants | FTRF
Censorship
Students question why popular novel is removed from Gilbert school’s curriculum | Abc15.com (Arizona); The Kite Runner- ‘Reading a book can’t turn you gay,’ say authors of children’s book yanked by CMS | Charlotte Observer (NC)
- Orleans Cultural Council disputes censorship charges | Cape Code Times (MA); “Cultural Council members came back strong at their recent meeting on allegations they had censored four student paintings for a Town Hall art show.”
- Censorship, not the painting, must go: On Dana Schutz’s image of Emmett Till | Hyperallergic
- School tries to censor BLM article. These students had the final say | The Huffington Post (CA)
- Minnesota high school cancels play after photos leak of students dressed in KKK costumes | NCAC blog; “The principal’s message announcing the cancellation said the message behind the play, one of acceptance and the celebration of differences, was lost in the whirlwind of controversy around the photo.”
- Victory: “Beloved Bill” vetoed in Virginia | CBLDF
Access
- Implications for accessibility in academic libraries | American Libraries
- FCC to halt expansion of broadband subsidies for poor people | Ars Technica
Privacy
- Free ALA Webinar: Practical Privacy Practices on April 13th
- Congress just killed your Internet privacy protections | CNN Tech
- For sale: Your private browsing history | Ars Technica
- Outrage grows over Congress’ Internet privacy vote | CNN Tech
- How to protect your online privacy now that Congress sold you out | Popular Mechanics
- VPNs won’t save you from Congress’ Internet privacy giveaway | Wired
- Protecting patron privacy | Library Journal
- Stephen Colbert denounces Congress’ vote to end internet privacy rules: ‘Something we can all hate together’| Business Insider
- Facial recognition database used by FBI is out of control, House committee hears | The Guardian
Net Neutrality / Broadband
- Libraries have become a broadband lifeline to the cloud for students | Ars Technica
- Net Neutrality is Trump’s next target, administration says | The New York Times
Filters
- Porn ban: Alabama bill would mandate XXX filters on all Internet-connected devices | International Business Times
Academic Freedom
- Why Andrew Potter lost his ‘dream job’ at McGill | MacLean’s
- Wellesley professors call for censorship during ‘Censorship Awareness Week’ | Washington Examiner
- Censorship: Is it happening at MSU? | The Standard (Missouri State University)
- Faculty ‘diversity statements’ are called threats to academic freedom | Chronicle of Higher Education
First Amendment Issues
- College campus free-speech zones face new scrutiny, lawsuit | The New York Times
- Supreme Court considers three First Amendment cases this term | Newseum Institute
Around the Web
- Meet Daryle Lamont Jenkins, insatiable doxxer of fascists and nazis | Wired
- A political organizatoin that doubts climate science is sending this book to 200,000 teachers | The Washington Post; Why Scientists Disagree about Global Warming: The NIPCC Report on Scientific Consensus
Commentary: Without school librarians, we’re on a dystopian path | Chicago Tribune - UW professor: The information war is real, and we’re losing it | The Seattle Times
- How public libraries help build healthy communities | Brookings Institute
International Issues
- Launch of controversial book cancelled | Bangkok Post (Thailand); “The launch of a book on the controversial rice-pledging scheme by Pheu Thai Party politicians has been suspended at the request of the military and the police.”
- From driver’s handbook to Dora the Explorer, Toronto library’s book removal requests | The Star (Canada)
- Headmaster bans ‘brutal, banal’ Irish books from UK school’s library | The Irish Times (Wimbledon, UK); “The headmaster announced that authors such as Eoin Colfer and Derek Landy were “so simplistic, brutal or banal” that children should not be exposed to them on school grounds.”
- U.S. immigration judge grants asylum to Singapore teenage blogger | The New York Times
ALA News
- Fight for Libraries! Include #SaveIMLS on Twitter when you advocate for libraries.
- National Library Week – On April 10, OIF will unveil the 2016 Top Ten Challenged Books.
- Get ready for National Bookmobile Day 2017 with free materials, ideas and more
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