Intellectual Freedom News 4/09/2021
Highlights
- ALA’s Top Ten Most Challenged Books of 2020 | Intellectual Freedom Blog
- “George” Tops Most Challenged List for Third Year in a Row: “Stamped” Takes No. 2 Spot | School Library Journal
- 2020’s most challenged books include ‘The Hate U Give’ and others about race | The Washington Post
- Sharp rise in parents seeking to ban anti-racist books in US schools | The Guardian
- In year of covid-closed libraries, 270 book challenges filed | Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Censorship
- Why Republican efforts to ban the 1619 Project from classrooms are so misguided | The Washington Post
- 15 Notable Books And Resources That Are Banned From US Prisons | BuzzFeed News
- ‘It breaks my heart that we’re just muting those voices’ — Leander ISD teachers push against banning books | KVUE ABC
- Richardson parents clash over LGBTQ books in school libraries | Dallas Morning News
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- Brown Has One Surveillance Camera for Every 9 Undergrads – Student Raises Concerns | GoLocal
- Thousands of US police officers and public servants have reportedly used Clearview’s controversial facial recognition tech without approval | Business Insider
- A Broader Look at Privacy Remedies | Lawfare
- Breaking the Privacy Gridlock: A Broader Look at Remedies [PDF] | Berkeley Center for Law & Technology / NYU Information Law Institute
- Facebook isn’t planning to tell you if you’re one of the 533 million people whose data leaked | The Verge
More privacy news is available at the Voices for Privacy blog.
First Amendment, Free Speech, & Civil Liberties
- SPLC urges Supreme Court to limit school authority over off-campus student speech | Student Press Law Center
- First Circuit Upholds First Amendment Right to Secretly Audio Record the Police | EFF
- Two Iowa Students Among Plaintiffs Suing U.S. Department of Ed Over LGBTQ Discrimination | Iowa Public Radio
- Former BYU students join lawsuit claiming school violated their constitutional rights | Fox 13 Salt Lake city
- Guardsman suing Colorado National Guard over right to protest | 9 News NBC
- [Florida] State “Anti-riot” bill causes concern from activist group, state senator offers an ear | WCJB ABC
- Texas Senate passes bill to cut early voting, empower poll watchers | NBC News
- House Judiciary Committee passes bill squelching Montana press freedom | Missoula Current
- House committee passes bill to regulate media coverage in Montana | Independent Record
- San Francisco leaders, colleagues react to Alison Collins’ $87M lawsuit against school district | ABC 7 News
- ‘Incremental’ Utah Porn Block Raises Questions Over Governmental Overreach | Courthouse News Service
- First Amendment expert: Effort to make Bible official state book ‘unconstitutional’ | FOX 17 WZTV Nashville
- I Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, a Republican, vetoed an anti-transgender bill. | The New York Times
- N.C. bill would ban treatment for tans people under 21. The bill would also compel state employees to immediately notify parents in writing if their child displays “gender nonconformity.” | NBC News
- Opinion: Republicans defend corporate speech — unless it supports voting rights | The Washington Post
- Likely Legal, ‘Vaccine Passports’ Emerge as the Next Coronavirus Divide | The New York Times
- Supreme Court nixes Alex Jones’ appeal in Newtown shooting case | NBC News
Access
- Westfield Repealing Law That Could Land Library Patrons in Court for Overdue Books | Tap into Westfield
- SLC Public Library program helping close digital divide left by COVID-19 | ABC 4
- ContentKeeper Unveils New Student-Monitoring Tool | Government Technology
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
- ARPA Pulls Through for Library Funding and Broadband Assistance | Intellectual Freedom Blog
- The $100 Billion National Broadband Plan for America | CircleID
- The Internet Doesn’t See State Lines: This Is Why That Matters | InsideSources
- Garcia Urges California Public Utilities Commission To Not Enforce Net Neutrality Law | KHTS
- Florida GOP Passes Bill to Assess Political Bias on Campus | NBC Miami
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- Florida Legislature: Senate poised to pass controversial ‘intellectual freedom’ bill | Daytona Beach News-Journal
- ‘Intellectual freedom’ bill goes to DeSantis | News 4 Jax
- Holding a College Budget Hostage Over Planned Parenthood | Inside Higher Ed
- The Future of Tenure | The Chronicle of Higher Edudation
Social Media
- Social Media Use in 2021 | Pew Research Center
- Official Censorship Should Have No Place in the Digital Public Square | The New York Times
- Opinion: Facebook and Twitter must ban all anti-vaccine accounts | The Washington Post
- US inches towards regulating social media platforms as utilities | Telecoms.com
- Clarence Thomas blasts Section 230, wants “common-carrier” rules on Twitter | Ars Technica
- Texas Senate approves bill to stop social media companies from banning Texans for political views | The Texas Tribune
- Texans sue Attorney General Ken Paxton, accuse him of violating First Amendment for blocking them on Twitter | The Texas Tribune
- Research & Commentary: New Hampshire’s Stop Social Media Censorship Act | The Heartland Institute
- West Virginia GOP wants to censor information about voting on social media | The American Independent
- How a Bunch of Revolutionary War Reenactors Got Caught Up in Facebook’s Purge of Militia Groups | New Republic
- Twitch will ban users for ‘severe misconduct’ that occurs away from its site | Reuters
Copyright
- But is it legal? The baffling world of NFT copyright and ownership issues | The Art Newspaper
- Supreme Court sides with Google in copyright fight against Oracle | The Hill
- University Trying to Block Distribution of Faculty Senate Meeting Video Excerpts Using Copyright Law | Reason
- Ownership and Use of Architectural Plans and Drawings | JDSupra
Journalism, Media, & Disinformation
- ALA’s new publication “Media Literacy in the Library: A Guide for Library Practitioners”: Interviews with contributors Dr. Nicole A. Cooke and Kristen Calvert | Intellectual Freedom Blog
- Iowa Democrat drops bid to overturn election result citing ‘toxic’ disinformation campaign | Independent
- One Republican’s Lonely Fight Against a Flood of Disinformation | The New York Times
- Congressional CEO grillings can’t solve disinformation: We need a public interest regulator | The Hill
- Dominion: will one Canadian company bring down Trump’s empire of disinformation? | The Guardian
- Christian Librarian’s Training Squares Faith in Disinformation Age | KMJ Now
- African Immigrant Health Groups Battle Trans-Atlantic Tide of Vaccine Disinformation | Public Radio Tulsa
- School libraries help kids combat disinformation | Reflector
International News
- DNA Explainer: Tibetans have ‘copyright’ over Dalai Lama reincarnation says Lobsang Sanjay | DNA India
- Italy ends censorship of films on moral and religious grounds | The Guardian
- Russia’s Twitter throttling may give censors never-before-seen capabilities | Ars Technica
Around the Web
- 15 Unforgettable Responses to the 2020 Banned Books List from Authors, Librarians, Readers | Intellectual Freedom Blog
- Library Workers Who Saved the Day from Censorship | Intellectual Freedom Blog
- School Librarians Must Lead the Ongoing Conversation About Problematic Titles and Library Collections | School Library Journal
- After debate over books on gender identity, Westfield schools eye new policies | IndyStar
- Ethos Capital Is Grabbing Power Over Domain Names Again, Risking Censorship-For-Profit. Will ICANN Intervene? | EFF
- How libraries are improving climate literacy in their communities | Yale Climate Connections
- New Book Edited By ISU Professor Shines Spotlight On LGBTQ Youth Art | WGLT Public Radio
- NISO Members Approve Proposal for a New Recommended Practice to Update Author Name Changes | National Information Standards Organization
- District apologizes for showing video that was “inappropriate for the students’ age group” | Fox 25
- Arlington Heights Memorial Library: Statement in Solidarity with Our Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities | Arlington Heights Memorial Library
ALA News
- American Library Association establishes ReMember Fund to help members during times of financial insecurity
- Dr. Leana Wen, Savala Nolan Trepczynski, Judy Tyrus and Paul Novosel to appear as featured speakers at ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition (Virtual)
- Spring brings fresh posters and bookmarks in ALA Graphics catalog
- ALA releases State of America’s Libraries Special Report: COVID-19
ALA Publishing
- An updated handbook for rightsizing academic library collections
- Academic library initiatives for transfer student success
Awards and Grants
- Ingram Library of the University of West Georgia chosen for the LIRT 2021 Innovation in Instruction Award
- Dr. Megan Oakleaf chosen as the 2021 recipient of the LIRT Librarian Recognition Award
- GODORT announces 2021 Award Winners
eCourses and Webinars
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- Tools and Tips for More Engaging Online Learning
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