April 21, 2017 – Collated by OIF Staff and News Interns

Intellectual Freedom Highlights

• Preserving government websites with ‘End of Term Presidential Harvest’ | OIF Blog; “Legally, there isn’t an agency or department responsible for preserving government websites. In order to avoid the loss of historic information and internet content, the End of Term Presidential Harvest has become a regular activity undertaken by librarians and archivists across the country.”
• A call to protect academic freedom | OIF Blog; “Institutions of higher education are seeing an increasing number of challenges to the principles of academic freedom that have seemingly been embedded in higher education since the establishment of American universities … This notion, however, that academic freedom has always existed in academic institutions in the United States is inaccurate.”
• Need help getting your Banned Books Week program off the ground? The Freedom to Read Foundation is awarding $1,000-$2,500 grants to support events during Banned Books Week. Grantees also receive a Banned Books Week promo-kit, filled with new Banned Books Week products. Apply by May 12.

Censorship

• Parents may get new way to challenge school textbooks | Orlando Sentinel (FL); “Under the proposed bills (HB 989 and SB 1210), residents could more easily object to books, textbooks and other classroom materials, review volumes in school libraries and, if needed, argue their views before an ‘unbiased and qualified hearing officer’ who could deem the items unsuitable and require they not be used.”
• Court gives no first amendment protection to competition art at U.S. Capitol | Law Professor Blogs Network; “Judge John D. Bates (D.D.C.) ruled today that a student whose painting was displayed at the U.S. Capitol after winning a congressional art competition enjoyed no First Amendment right against the Architect of the Capitol when the Architect took the painting down based on its viewpoint. Judge Bates said that the painting amounted to government speech, and that it was therefore not protected by the First Amendment.”

Libraries & Hate Crimes

• Qurans found in toilet at University of Texas at Dallas, police say | Dallas News

Access

• Proposed library cuts an assault on the poor, US Rep. Grijalva says | Arizona Daily Star
• Former Microsoft CEO launches new tool for finding government data | NPR
• Using Blockchain to keep public data public | Harvard Business Review
• Facebook built a helicopter-drone to provide wireless internet to disaster areas | Recode.net
• How the Freedom of Information Act applies to federal agencies | Poynter

Privacy

• Learning Analytics and the Academic Library: Professional Ethics Commitments at a Crossroads | College and Research Libraries
• Toward Accountability: Data, Fairness, Algorithms, Consequences | Points: Data & Society
• Iowa City library may soon need to remove bathroom cameras | KCRG
• 1.3 million K-12 students exposed by now-secured data breach| The Daily Dot
• US surveillance court denied few monitoring requests in 2016 | Associated Press
• In Secret Court Hearing, Lawyer Objects to FBI Sifting Through NSA Data Like it Was Google | The Intercept
• Taser’s free body cameras are good for cops, not the people | Wired
• Why one Republican voted to kill privacy rules: “Nobody has to use the Internet” | Ars Technica
• Cities, states seek to protect immigrants’ data from federal officials | Pew Stateline
• California Today: Weighing a Response on Internet Privacy| New York Times
• Washington State House Committee Approves Internet Privacy Protections | The Seattle Times
• Healey Halts Digital Ads Targeted at Women’s Reproductive Clinics  | Boston Globe

Net Neutrality

• The FCC is leading us toward catastrophe | Backchannel; “Chairman Pai is trusting cable and telcos to do the right thing. Bad news for anyone who wants accessible internet.”
• Tech Startups launch net neutrality push | The Hill
• Net Neutrality: America’s libraries stand for freedom and fairness | The Hill; by ALA President Julie Todara

First Amendment Issues

• Justice Dept. debating charges against WikiLeaks members in revelations of diplomatic, CIA materials| Washington Post
• Schools should be able to censor student journalists, some Arizona lawmakers argue | Arizona Daily Star
• When it comes to our freedoms, is a C+ grade good enough | Newseum; “A new ‘First Amendment Report Card,’ unveiled today by the First Amendment Center of the Newseum Institute, gives our First Amendment freedoms — religion, speech, press, assembly and petition — a barely passing grade.”
• Auburn U. cancels speech by Richard Spencer | Chronicle of Higher Ed
  • A white supremacist comes to Auburn | Chronicle of Higher Ed; “The university tried to block Richard Spencer’s talk. A judge said it could not.”
• Supreme Court scheduled to hear important Freedom of Religion dispute | NBC News
• Conservative pundit Ann Coulter vows to hold Berkeley event despite university cancellation | The Washington Post
  • Berkeley, reversing decision, says Ann Coulter can speak after all | The New York Times

Around the Web

• How Google Book Search got lost | Backchannel
• The bizarre digital book  you must destroy before sharing | Wired
• 11 Dallas ISD schools are losing their librarians because of budget cuts | Dallas News; (TX)
• Are school libraries headed toward extinction? LAUSD principals are choosing other ways to spend limited budgets, but some board members want to change that | LA School Report; (CA)
• Boston Public Library returns historic artifacts to Italy | WFXT
• On Libraries: The Many Layers of Diversity | Hilda K. Weisburg; “Currently, IFC has a draft resolution in the works on Library Bill of Rights Interpretation – Equity, Diversity, Inclusion. In fully defining what those terms encompass, the draft is a strong reminder of what libraries stand for—and the challenging decisions implicit in this stance.” Read more for highlights of the draft.

International Issues

• Tajikistan opens a new chapter: No books allowed in or out without approval | RadioFreeEurope
• China’s WeChat is a censorship juggernaut | Fortune
• Council of Europe warns on rising media self-censorship | Yahoo7News

OIF News

• Choose Privacy Week, May 1-7
• Webinar Recording: Practical Privacy Practices with Michael Robinson, Marshall Breeding and Alison Macrina

ALA News

• The State of America’s Libraries 2017: A Report from the American Library Association
• ALA honors Haipeng Li with Equality Award
• Reintroducing the ALA Washington Office Newsline | District Dispatch
• PLA to offer strategic planning workshop at conference for rural and small libraries
• Fight for Libraries! Include #SaveIMLS on Twitter when you advocate for libraries.
• ALA to join March for Science on April 22 | American Libraries

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