Intellectual Freedom News 4/27/2018
April 27, 2018 – Collated by OIF Staff and News Editors
Intellectual Freedom Highlights
- Aurora Public Library employee resigns over Muslim poem controversy | Chicago Tribune; “Roth says when she first read the poem, which seems to take cruel aim at Muslims and, in particular, Muslim women, “it stopped me in my tracks … it was horrible,” she said. “But then I read it again and started to think about it … and saw what the artist was trying to say … that those thoughts were abhorrent.”
Censorship
- Oklahoma substitute teacher speaks out after finding offensive word in elementary school book | Oklahoma’s News 4
- Aurora library display prompts both hate and censorship claims | The Beacon-News
- A few thoughts on book challenges and book banning in America | OIF Blog
- Hitler and censorship: Is there value in ‘Mein Kampf’? | OIF Blog
Privacy
- There’s a new bill to regulate Facebook and Google’s data collection | Slate
- Google takes aim at Illinois privacy law | Crain’s Chicago Business
- 13 Going on Old Enough to Share Your Personal Data | Slate
- 5 things every K-12 employee should do to protect student data | eSchool News
- What Happens to Student Data Privacy When Chinese Firms Acquire U.S. Edtech Companies? | EdSurge
- Who Has More of Your Personal Data Than Facebook? Try Google | Wall Street Journal
- What’s NOT included in Facebook’s ‘Download Your Data’ | Wired
See this week’s additional privacy news and updates on the Choose Privacy Week blog.
Net Neutrality and Broadband Access
- Net neutrality protections still in place – for now; ALA releases new FAQ | ALA District Dispatch
- Why Republicans can’t vote for net neutrality CRA | Forbes
- Ajit Pai hasn’t finalized net neutrality repeal – here’s a theory on why | Ars Technica
Access
- Council debates charging for use of library meeting room | PT Leader.com (Washington)
- Lawrence Activist Sues Over Arrest At Kansas City Library Public Event Two Years Ago | KCUR (MO)
- PEN American Foundation Releases “Online Harassment Field Manual” | Infodocket
- Social Inequality Will Not Be Solved By an App | Wired
Free Press, Social Media, and Fake News
- Reporters Without Borders just released its annual press-freedom report card, and the grades are dismal | Washington Post
- RSF Index 2018: Hatred of journalism threatens democracies | Reporters Without Borders
- How Facebook makes tough calls on censorship | Axios
- Facebook reveals its censorship guidelines for the first time — 27 pages of them | Los Angeles Times
- Community Standards | Facebook
- Platform censorship won’t fix the internet | Electronic Freedom Foundation
- U.S. Congress spars over over social media filtering; companies skip hearing | The New York Times
- Congress’ social media censorship hearing was a complete disaster | The Verge
- Why diverse online communities don’t trust journalists and seven ways to fix it | Knight Foundation
- Half of Republicans say the news media should be described as the enemy of the American people | The Washington Post
- NOT REAL NEWS: California Bill would not ban Bible sales | The New York Times; “Bible sales would not be banned in California under proposed state legislation, contrary to widely shared claims by multiple online sites. The issue emerged over a bill that seeks to classify selling or advertising gay conversion therapy as a fraudulent business practice in the state.”
Academic Freedom and Campus Speech
- Code Yellow: University of Montana limits idea sharing to zones on campus | Washington Examiner
- Don’t be fooled: There is a free speech crisis | Chronicle of Higher Education
First Amendment and Free Speech
- Nevada student sues over dress code banning pro-gun shirts | The New York Times
- C-SPAN’s Landmark Cases covers Tinker v Des Moines | C-SPAN
- Justice Kagan on the First Amendment | Newseum
Around the Web
- What happens when science just disappears? | Wired
- Could genre-based classifications limit intellectual freedom? | OIF Blog
- IMLS releases annual data on American public libraries | IMLS
International Issues
- Cameroon media operating in climate of fear and self-censorship – RSF Report | AfricaNews
- China remains world’s biggest prison for journalists, while Beijing exports media censorship overseas | The Epoch Times
- Researchers say Canadian technology used to censor internet internationally | Radio Canada International
- Banned in Beirut: The politics of cultural censorship in Lebanon | The Economist
ALA News
- Choose Privacy Week 2018: Explore, Learn, & Teach about Big Data | OIF Blog; “In the wake of Mark Zuckerberg’s Congressional testimony last week and the related explosion of public interest in how online personal data is collected, stored, shared, used and sometimes misused, this year’s CPW theme is “Big Data is Watching You”
Subscribe to future issues of Intellectual Freedom News, a free weekly compilation of news delivered to your inbox by the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, including
- current book challenges in libraries and schools
- articles about privacy, internet filtering and censorship
- ALA activities, conferences and institutes, products, online learning opportunities, awards and grants, international exchanges, and more
- how to get involved and make the most of what ALA offers
You can also find us at Facebook, Twitter, and online. Or email us at oif@ala.org
2 comments
Is OIF participating in the continuing discussion of the Aurora case — and/or offering assistance to the staff there? I’m very curious about your ideas regarding balancing free speech rights vs. what some see as insults to Muslim women…
Hi Arthur, OIF has reached out to the Aurora Public Library but haven’t received a response from the board or administrators. We have a blog post in the works with our thoughts but are respectful of the local actions and statements of those involved.