May 26, 2017 – Collated by OIF Staff and News Interns

Intellectual Freedom Highlights

• Superintendent recommends controversial book remain in Sauk Prairie High School course | Sauk Prairie Eagle (WI)
• Intellectual Freedom: Really Simple Library Stuff | IF Blog; “While intellectual freedom issues can quickly become complex and nuanced, introduction to the ideals doesn’t necessarily have to be. A simpler introduction may stick easier than an overly complicated one.”

Censorship

• Top 5 questions about Florida’s new instructional materials bill | IF Blog
• Revealed: Facebook’s internal rulebook on sex, terrorism and violence The Guardian
  • Facebook’s moderation is of public interest. It should be public knowledge Columbia Journalism Review
• Why Facebook’s censorship problem may not get any better any time soon | Washington Post
  • Facebook ‘doesn’t want to censor’ suicide livestreams: report | New York Post
• Elementary school faces backlash after telling students not to bring ’13 Reasons Why’ to campus | WFTV (FL)
  • Elementary school bans students from possessing 13 Reasons Why on school grounds | NCAC blog
• Trump sued for censorship of climate change data | EcoWatch
• Prisoner advocacy group decries censorship at Ohio prison | Courthouse News Service

Access

• NEH chair resigns as Trump renews bid to eliminate arts, library funding | Publishers Weekly
• Around Denver’s Central Library, crime and no punishment | Denver Post; “A critical point that all of us should keep top-of-mind as officials work to bring order to this situation: The mission of the library and the city is to serve all members of the public. … That mission isn’t just altruistic, it is also the law. Advocates for the homeless vigorously pursue legal challenges when rights and freedoms are curtailed.”
• ‘Shocking’ DeVos stance on discrimination | eSchoolNews; “During a budget hearing, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said she would not agree to bar discrimination by private schools receiving federal money.”
• Are fewer schools and libraries applying to the E-Rate program? | School Library Journal

Meeting Rooms and Programs

• Medical marijuana backers say Missouri library denied them meeting room | St. Louis Post-Dispatch
  • ACLU of Missouri sues Rolla Public Library for violating free speech, due process rights | ACLU of Missouri
• Protests remain calm over teen sex education class | The BayNet (MD)

Privacy

• Protecting Patron Privacy: A LITA Guide (new book available)
• Federal Court Revives Wikimedia’s Challenge to N.S.A. Surveillance | New York Times
• Telco-Backed Politician Wants to Restore Privacy Rules She Helped Kill  |  Wired
  • Google and Facebook lobbyists try to stop new online privacy protections | Ars Technica
• How Google took over the classroom | New York Times; “[Some parents] warn that Google could profit by using personal details from their children’s school email to build more powerful marketing profiles of them as young adults.”
• Get ready for the next big privacy backlash against Facebook | Wired; “But earlier this month, The Australian uncovered something that felt like a breach in the social contract: a leaked confidential document prepared by Facebook that revealed the company had offered advertisers the opportunity to target 6.4 million younger users, some only 14 years old, during moments of psychological vulnerability, such as when they felt “worthless,” “insecure,” “stressed,” “defeated,” “anxious,” and like a “failure.””
• Data expungement: An argument for a limited right to be forgotten | IAPP
• A clever new way to protect your data at the border could also add risk | Wired

See more privacy updates on the Choose Privacy Week blog.

Net Neutrality

• Net neutrality under attack | American Libraries
• FCC releases proposal to gut net neutrality rules | CNet
• Group accuses Comcast of trying to ‘censor’ pro-net neutrality site | The Hill

Campus Speech

• Notre Dame’s commencement walkout wasn’t about stifling academic freedom | Washington Post
  • Why walking out is better than shouting down | Chronicle of Higher Education
  • Stop using free speech as an excuse to be awful| Huffington Post
• Victor students disciplined for writing, publishing, then selling on Amazon offensive haiku book| Democrat & Chronicle (NY)
• A campus murder tests Facebook clicks as evidence of hate | Wired
  • How can colleges respond to extremist activity among students? | Chronicle of Higher Education

First Amendment Issues

• Hassling journalists damages our ‘watchdog on government’ | Newseum Institute
  • Montana millionaire charged with journalist assault–and headed for Congress? | Newseum Institute
  • A journalist was body slammed, but some conservatives want the news media to apologize| New York Times
  • Senators ask FCC why reporter was “manhandled” after net neutrality vote | Ars Technica
• Jokes, Indecency and the Federal Communications Commission | Jurist
• Northwestern graduate student sues professor for invasion of privacy, defamation following book release | The Daily Northwestern (IL)
• You’re wrong, SLO High: Schools do have the right to limit free speech, attorney says | The Tribune (CA)
• House votes to criminalize revenge porn in the military | Military.com
• Utah Law That Could Send Online Bullies to Jail Criticized | New York Times
• Republicans claim 1st Amendment right to send you robo-voicemails | Ars Technica

Around the Web

• Appeals Court Will Not Reinstate Trump’s Revised Travel Ban | The New York Times
• Media Manipulation and Disinformation Online | Data and Society
• Sorry, you can’t protest security screening by getting naked for the TSA | Ars Technica
• Roald Dahl’s The Witches and 4 other children’s books that were banned for bizarre reasons | Mirror (UK)
• ‘WannaCry’ ransomware attack raises alarm bells for cities, states | Pew Charitable Foundation
• ‘Are you whores?’ former Grover Beach mayor asks council during marijuana debate | The Tribune (CA)
• Library brings drag queens, kids together for story hour | New York Times
• College courses on graphic novels criticized as less ‘intellectually demanding’ | CBLDF

International Issues

• Theresa May plans to regulate, tax and censor the internet | TechDirt
• Google argues ‘right to be forgotten’ ruling is unworkable | Irish Times
• Court: Google must uphold convicted criminal’s right to be forgotten | NL Times (Netherlands)
• Indian filmmakers call for overhaul of “outdated” censorship system | Hollywood Reporter
• Online censorship and user notification: Lessons from Thailand| Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Mugabe’s daughter named to Zimbabwe censorship board | ABC News
• Quarter of UK academics ‘bullied over scholarly views’ | Times Higher Education
• Venezuela increases internet censorship and surveillance in crisis | The Register

ALA News

• Trump administration’s budget using wrong math when it comes to libraries | ALA; ““To those who say that the nation cannot afford federal library funding, the American Library Association, American businesses and millions of Americans say emphatically we cannot afford to be without it.”
• Participate in YALSA’s “Top Ten” Summer Learning Programs contest
• New Workshop: Cyber Security and Privacy: Protecting Yourself and Your Users
• Fight for Libraries! Include #SaveIMLS on Twitter when you advocate for libraries.
• Join the Intellectual Freedom Round Table and volunteer for a committee.

---

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