Intellectual Freedom News 4/3/2020
Highlights
- Access to ALA Editions | ALA Neal-Schuman e-books during the COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 federal relief package supports libraries’ role in digital inclusion
- Federal Relief Package Supports Libraries | American Libraries
- Library advocates stay in motion | American Libraries
Library Services & COVID-19 Resources
- Pandemic Preparedness: Resources for Libraries | American Library Association
- Staying open during COVID-19 | American Libraries
- Public Libraries’ Novel Response to a Novel Virus | The Atlantic
- Libraries Across Kansas Search For Ways To Do Their Work After COVID-19 Shut Their Doors | NPR
- Drive-thru book giveaway brings families together | WKRG News 5 (AL)
- Libraries adapt to census needs amid COVID-19 disruptions | Smart Cities Dive
- Creating a ‘library without walls’: Cushman Library maintains nearly all of its services online | Greenfield Reporter (MA)
- Lawton Public Library staff carrying on in the face of pandemic | The Lawton Constitution (OK)
- The digital heartbeat is your school library | Knowledge Quest
- Avoiding Information Overload During COVID-19 Shelter-in-Place Orders | Knowledge Quest
- Digital Escape Rooms and Other Online Programming | American Libraries
- University libraries help hospitals with the PPE donations | American Libraries
- How to sanitize collections in a pandemic | American Libraries
- Libraries’ next ‘Act’ in health during COVID-19 | American Libraries
- Ebooks, streaming resources grow as libraries close brances | Library Journal
- How library maker spaces can #FlattentheCurve | Library Journal
Censorship
- Artists Accuse New Mexico Museum of Art of Censoring Anti-fracking Work | HyperAllergic
- Reporters Without Borders turns to Minecraft to make censored journalism accessible around the world | Jounalism.uk
- Internet Censorship During COVID-19 Is Threat To Cryptocurrencies And Liberty | Forbes
Privacy and Cybersecurity
- Privacy During the COVID-19 Pandemic | Choose Privacy Everyday (Updated Weekly)
- IFRT Webinar: Privacy Literacy Work at the Frontier of Intellectual Freedom; April 15
- Coronavirus surveillance poses long-term privacy threat, U.N. expert warns | Reuters
- New York Attorney General Looks Into Zoom’s Privacy Practices | New York Times
- Zoom Tightens Privacy Policy, Says No User Videos Are Analyzed for Ads | Consumer Reports
- Mass school closures in the wake of the coronavirus are driving a new wave of student surveillance | Washington Post
- Washington state passes Microsoft-approved facial recognition laws | The Next Web
- A modest proposal to advance privacy perspectives | IAPP Privacy Advisor
- House Departs Without Vote to Extend Expired F.B.I. Spy Tools | New York Times
- The Inspector General’s Disturbing FISA Memo | Lawfare
Additional privacy posts, news, and updates are available at the Choose Privacy Every Day blog.
Access
- The Coronavirus Information Gap for Marginalized People | Filter
- An Indiana County Has Completely Banned Book Sales | The Libertarian Republic
- California PBS ‘At-Home Learning’ Model Spreads Across U.S. | Center for Digital Education
- The Achievement Gap Is ‘More Glaring Than Ever’ for Students Dealing With School Closures | Time
- All the free online resources parents need in home ‘schooling’ during coronavirus outbreak | ZDNet
- The Publishing Industry Adapts to COVID-19 While Offering Support | School Library Journal
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
- Broadband First Responders: Libraries, Schools, and ISPs Open Wi-Fi Hotspots for Students|Institute for Local Self-Reliance
- Coronavirus has made the digital divide more dangerous than ever | Washington Post
- As Life Moves Online, an Older Generation Faces a Digital Divide | New York Times
- Online Learning Only Works if Students Have Home Internet Access. Some Don’t. | New America
- Coronavirus for kids without internet: Quarantined worksheets, learning in parking lots | USA Today
- It’s Time For An Internet-For-All Public Utility (Before Corona Crashes It) | Forbes
- From Rural Digital Divides to Local Solutions | Brookings
- Why is rural internet so bad? | Blinq Networks
- What’s at stake for digital connectivity in Capitol Hill’s next coronavirus fight | Politico
- Congress tells FCC to fix broadband maps now | Benton
- How many Americans lack high-speed internet | The Markup
Copyright
- Internet Archive offers 1.4 million copyrighted books for free online | Ars Technica
- Can Teachers Read Books Out Loud Online? Actually, Yes. | EdSurge
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- During Covid-19, One College’s Virtual Chat Offers Hope for the Fall | Chronicle of Higher Education
Hate Speech | Hate Crimes
- Anti-Chinese graffiti found on campus | Madison 365
- Police have two juveniles in custody in regard to vandalism | The Republic (IN)
Fake News, Free Press, Social Media
- COVID 19: Health care crisis and mis-information | Intellectual Freedom Blog
- Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories Are a Public Health Hazard | Wired
- Press Freedom and Government Transparency during COVID-19 | Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
- ‘Be nice’ is not needed during crisis but a free press is | Freedom Forum Institute
- Webinar recap: COVID-19: Taking care of journalists and journalism | Freedom Forum Institute
- Coronavirus Toolkit For Student Journalists | Student Press Law Center
- 5 takeaways from the Reporters Committee’s 2019 Press Freedom Tracker report | Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
- Press Freedoms in the United States 2019 | Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
- Virtual Annenberg event describes how journalists face online trolling and censorship | Daily Pennsylvanian
- Americans’ main sources for political news vary by party and age | Pew Research Center
- It’s a bad idea for journalists to censor Trump – instead, they can help the public identify what’s true or false | Raw Story
- Social media censorship in a time of coronavirus | Telecoms.com
First Amendment & Free Speech
- Law banning public worker picketing violates free speech, Missouri Supreme Court says | St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
- Proposed California Privacy Regs Violate First Amendment, Ad Groups Claim | Daily Data
Around the Web
- Bored with the First Amendment: Scales on Censorship | School Library Journal
- The Hate U Give Author Angie Thomas Announces New Novel, Concrete Rose: ‘I Expect It to Get Banned’ | People
- The brutal history of censorship | Loudwire
- JK Rowling starts ‘Harry Potter At Home’ online collection for housebound families | The Hill
- Landmarks in law: the controversial 80s play that defied gay censorship | The Guardian
- Woody Allen’s Book Cancellation is Apropos of Today’s Discourse | Intellectual Freedom Blog
- Raising A Reader Gives Parents Tips for Maintaining Regular Reading Routine for Children While Schools Are Closed | Business Wire
- Lois Lowry in Conversation With a 10-Year-Old Reporter About Her New Book | Time
- Tomie dePaola dies at 85: Fans remember author of the controversial yet much-loved ‘Strega Nona’ | Meaww
International Issues
- Watchdog approves use of UK phone data to help fight coronavirus | The Guardian
- Community groups and COVID-19: What you need to know about data protection | Information Commissioner’s Office (UK)
- The power of data in a pandemic | Technology in the NHS (UK)
- Ireland to roll out voluntary phone tracker app to tackle coronavirus | Reuters
- UK broadband providers lift data caps during coronavirus crisis | Reuters
- Hard-knock life gets harder in Venezeula with internet near bust | Bloomberg
- As Virus Spreads, China and Russia See Openings for Disinformation | New York
- China and Huwei propose reinvention of the internet | Financial Times
- Covid-19 in Africa: When is Surveillance Necessary and Proportionate? | CIPESA
- 7amleh: Netanyahu imposes dangerous “Big Brother” surveillance under the pretext of a security response to the coronavirus | Association for Progressive Communications
- Coronavirus is being used to suppress press freedoms globally | Axios
- For China, Censorship Is More Important Than Human Life | Bitter Winter
- Coronavirus Has Started a Censorship Pandemic | Foreign Policy
- Chinese Netizens Use Ethereum To Avoid China’s COVID-19 Censorship | Forbes
ALA News
- Access to ALA Editions | ALA Neal-Schuman textbooks during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Celebrating reading wtih a free downloadable READ poster
- LITA to host a free webinar on “A Crash Course in Protecting Library Data While Working From Home” April 9
- ALA announces 2020 Policy Corps members
- 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
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