April 28, 2017 – Collated by OIF Staff and News Interns
And a special happy birthday to banned author Harper Lee.

Intellectual Freedom Highlights

• Let’s get practical for Choose Privacy Week | ALA; “We are now moving into a phase where libraries are looking for ways to improve privacy protections for their users, and in light of this change, we have designated Practical Privacy Practices as the theme for this year’s Choose Privacy Week, taking place May 1 – 7, 2017.”
• Benefits of a Banned Books Week box | Intellectual Freedom Blog; “Rebel readers, programming librarians and bookworms can support the freedom to read in style. The annual Banned Books Week Box is stocked with the newest banned book products from the American Library Association.”
• What ‘snowflakes’ get right about free speech| New York Times; “Widespread caricatures of students as overly sensitive, vulnerable and entitled ‘snowflakes’ fail to acknowledge the philosophical work that was carried out, especially in the 1980s and ’90s, to legitimate experience — especially traumatic experience — which had been dismissed for decades as unreliable, untrustworthy and inaccessible to understanding.”
  • NYT publishes speech suppression advocacy | National Review
  • Free speech, but not for all? | Chronicle of Higher Education
  • Lawyer: Stop using censorship to ‘protect’ free speech| Washington Post

Censorship

• Sauk Prairie High parents rail against curriculum | Sauk Prairie Eagle (WI)
• City asked to review book for teens, after seventh-grader complains about it at school | WIZM (WI)
• Jerome school considers removing book from library| KMVT (ID); “Avery told KMVT each committee member read the book, and they decided that the materials the student found offensive, in the context of the story, were appropriate to have in the library.”
• Why did the city of Dallas censor (and then reinstate) a public art project it helped fund? | Texas Observer
• Johnny wants to read? Heavens, no| Sun Sentinel (FL); “If HB 989 and SB 1210 pass, residents could challenge books in school libraries and argue their views before ‘an unbiased and qualified hearing officer’ who could decide if they are unsuitable. Translation: Parents can bring complaints to conservative hearing officers who will help them get rid of the books they don’t want their kids seeing, instead of leaving the decision up to school boards which are often made up of liberal heathens.”
  • Florida wants to bolster book-banning in schools | Orlando Sentinel
• 2016 challenges to young readers’ rights | Intellectual Freedom Blog
• Common sense has nothing to do with censorship | Intellectual Freedom Blog

Access

• Big content cheers as Congress votes on changes to US Copyright Office | Ars Technica
• Six YA titles that epitomize #OwnVoices | School Library Journal
• Repatriating History| Intellectual Freedom Blog; “How can archival repositories assist the repatriation movement to return cultural expressions, knowledge and heritage to source communities while maximizing the intellectual freedoms of our patrons?”

Privacy

• U.S. Homeland Security probes possible abuse in Twitter summons case | Reuters
• Cybersecurity for the people: how to protect your privacy at a protest| The Intercept
• How to disappear: Is it possible to move through a smart city undetected? | City Lab
• How to protect patrons’ digital privacy | American Libraries
• Tech groups push FCC to undo phone call record retention regulation  | Morning Consult
• Wyden pushing to mandate ‘basic cybersecurity’ for Senate | The Hill
• 4 critical points to consider when receiving cybersecurity and privacy advice | TechRepublic  “One of the findings of particular interest is that 13% of people participating in the survey received advice from teachers or librarians, and of those only 8%—the lowest percentage reported—had an online safety problem. Our findings also suggest that librarians are underutilized but potentially very valuable sources of online safety information.”
• Amazon’s Echo Look is a minefield of AI and privacy concerns | The Verge
• Unroll.me head ‘heartbroken’ that users found out it sells their inbox data | The Guardian
• Webinar: Practical Privacy Practices | OIF

Net Neutrality

• Ajit Pai announces plan to eliminate Title II net neutrality rules | Ars Technic
• ALA, ACRL oppose FCC plans to roll back net neutrality
• Why the FCC’s plans to gut net neutrality just might fail | Wired
• Comcast and other ISPs celebrate imminent death of net neutrality rules| Ars Technica

First Amendment Issues

• The First Amendment doesn’t guarantee you the rights you think it does | CNN
• KC Library gets 2 awards for free speech defense; librarian charged with 2 more offenses | Kansas City Star
• The US charging Julian Assange could put press freedom on trial | Wired
• Jefferson Muzzle ‘awards’ take aim at free-speech offenders | FOX News; “A Tennessee sheriff accused of deleting atheists’ comments on a county Facebook page, a school chief who dismissed a teacher who stepped on the American flag in class, and the U.S. Senate for a bill targeting speech on college campuses are among the winners of the Jefferson Muzzles — satiric awards bestowed annually by a free-speech group.”
• San Diego Unified’s anti-Islamophobia effort sparks protest| Fox 5 (CA)
• Public Employees, Private Speech: 1st Amendment doesn’t always protect government workers | ABA Journal
• To tweet or not to tweet| Newseum Institute; “First Amendment Center legal intern Melemaikalani Moniz lays out what government employees can and can’t post on social media.”
• Not in my classroom | Inside Higher Ed; “Study suggests professors widely oppose campus carry as inimical to academic freedom, but fewer would alter their teaching habits under the law.”
• Ann Coulter says she will pull out of speech at Berkeley | New York Times
  • ACLU Defends Ann Coulter: ‘A Loss For The 1st Amendment’ share this email | Fox News Insider
  • The freedom to ignore hate speech | San Francisco Chronicle
  • Republican students sue UC Berkeley for rescheduling speech by Ann Coulter | The ABA Journal
  • Bill Maher defends Ann Coulter in Berkeley free-speech fight | Fox News
• Howard Dean’s wrong tweet that the Constitution doesn’t protect ‘hate speech’ | Politifact
  • No, Gov. Dean, Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire does not recognize a ‘hate speech’ exception | Washington Post
• Sorry, college kids, there’s no such thing as hate speech | The Federalist

Around the Web

• Tamakis react to top spot on Frequently Challenged Books list | CBLDF
• Schools warn parents about Netflix’s ’13 Reasons Why’ | ABC News
• The hidden laborers training AI to keep ads off hateful YouTube videos | Wired
• Comics, censorship, and turmoil at the border – The CBLDF panel report from C2E2 | Bleeding Cool
• We’re investigating hate across the U.S. There’s no shortage of work. | ProPublica
• A White student’s protest art focuses attention on UNC’s racial history | Chronicle of Higher Ed
• Should Alice Goffman’s work cost her a faculty position? | Chronicle of Higher Education; “Ms. Goffman’s hiring at Pomona, the students wrote, bolsters ‘the framework that white women can theorize about and profit from black lives while giving no room for black academics to claim scholarship regarding their own lived experiences.’ The students also argued that Ms. Goffman’s research ‘reinforces harmful narratives about people of color.'”
• Climate denial in schools: A new wave of state bills could allow public schools to teach lies about climate change| Vice News
• ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ has been feared, banned and loved. Now it’s scaring the bejeezus out of us again. | Washington Post

International Issues

• The day Israel banned my book from schools | Time
• Rowan Williams urges removal of Holocaust denier’s books | The Guardian
  • Why banning David Irving books from university libraries would achieve little | The Guardian  “Libraries are, ideally, fundamentally amoral places. The presence of works on their shelves is not an endorsement of their views.”
• EU mulls legislation in the fight against online hate speech | Reuters
• Proposed German legislation threatens broad internet censorship | Committee to Protect Journalists
• Japanese gov’t draws further condemnation for allowing Hitler autobiography in schools | Xinhuanet
• Democracy and academic freedom in Viktor Orbán’s Hungary | The Guardian
• EU responds to Hungary’s higher education law | Inside Higher Ed
• DFB backs Bild over claims of Russian censorship for Confederations Cup | ESPNFC
• Netflix teen suicide show forces Censor to create a new rating | New Zealand Herald

ALA News

• Amy Bradley receives AASL Intellectual Freedom Award
• 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.
• The State of America’s Libraries 2017: A Report from the American Library Association
• Take action for libraries during Virtual Library Legislative Day (May 1-2)
• Fight for Libraries! Include #SaveIMLS on Twitter when you advocate for libraries.

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