Intellectual Freedom News 6/04/2021
Highlights
- Former President of the United States Barack Obama will headline ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition (Virtual) Closing Session
- Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Nikole Hannah-Jones and Isabel Wilkerson announced as ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition featured speakers
- IFRT, FTRF and UIUC iSchool Honor Intellectual Freedom Award Winners at Virtual Celebration featuring Banned Author Kyle Lukoff
Censorship
- Teachers Say Laws Banning Critical Race Theory Are Putting A Chill On Their Lessons | Wisconsin Public Radio
- Bozeman Schools officials say curriculum unaffected by AG’s opinion on critical race theory | Bozeman Daily Chronicle
- Top Loudoun school officials defend equity work against charges of ‘critical race theory’ | Washington Post
- Talking About Censorship and Publishing | Publishers Weekly
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- King County Council bans use of facial recognition technology by Sheriff’s Office, other agencies | Seattle Times
- Past, Present and Future: What’s Happening with Illinois’ and Other Biometric Privacy Laws | The National Law Review
- We could see federal regulation on face recognition as early as next week | MIT Technology Review
- House Bill Would Ban States from Weakening Encryption | Decipher
- Inside Citizen: The public safety app pushing surveillance boundaries | NBC News
- Physical Equivalent Privacy (In Libraries) | Minds @UW
More privacy news is available at the Voices for Privacy blog.
First Amendment, Free Speech, & Civil Liberties
- Alabama town won’t allow Juneteenth parade on Main Street; civil rights lawyer threatens ‘costly litigation’ | The Grand Island Independent
- DeSantis signs controversial transgender athlete bill; legal challenges likely | Tampa Bay Times
- Sheriff Denies Permit for Protest Against LASD, Raising 1st Amendment Concerns | LAist
- Trump Administration Secretly Seized Phone Records of Times Reporters | New York Times
Access
- Judge supports prison’s decision to take printed books from inmates amid pandemic | WBRZ
- FCC commissioner pushes for Big Tech to pay to close digital divide | CNET
- 34% of lower-income home broadband users have had trouble paying for their service amid COVID-19 | Pew Research Center
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- How to Fix Diversity and Equity | The Chronicle of Higher Education
- Political censorship in academic journals sets a dangerous new precedent | The BMJ Opinion
- Is Academic Freedom a Casualty of the Gaza War? | Inside Higher Ed
- The Faculty Voice During COVID-19 | Inside Higher Ed
- A Stanford student bashed the Federalist Society with a satirical flier. He nearly missed getting his diploma. | Washington Post
Copyright
- Supreme Court accepts case regarding copyright infringement for next term | Ballotpedia
- Sweeping Changes Proposed to the DMCA’s Notice-and-Takedown System | JDSupra
- If Not Overturned, a Bad Copyright Decision Will Lead Many Americans to Lose Internet Access | EFF
Social Media
- Lawsuit Targets Florida’s Big Tech ‘Censorship’ Law | Courthouse News Service
- Section 230 and the Future of Content Moderation | JDSupra
- Facebook’s AI treats Palestinian activists like it treats American Black activists. It blocks them. | The Washington Post
- WhatsApp’s Fight With India Has Global Implications | WIRED
- Anti-vaxxers make up to $1.1 billion for social media companies | .coda
- Addressing Big Tech’s power over speech | Brookings Institute
Journalism and Media
- ACLU sues Rio Arriba County sheriff, claiming reporter harassed, threatened | Santa Fe New Mexican
- Press groups support access to FISA court documents | Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
- WhatsApp blocks accounts of at least seven Gaza Strip journalists | Reporters Without Borders
Information Literacy & Disinformation
- Experts Call It A ‘Clown Show’ But Arizona ‘Audit’ Is A Disinformation Blueprint | NPR
- QAnon infects churches | Axios
- How QAnon is seeping into Michigan GOP politics | Michigan Advance
- POV: America’s Greatest National Security Threat | BU Today
- How Amazon became an engine for anti-vaccine conspiracy theories | Fast Company
- Viewpoint: conspiracy theories used to be the province of harmless ‘Bigfoot hunters’. Now they’re dangerous and deadly | Genetic Literacy Project
- Opinion: It was already tough to fight disinformation. Then UFO news came along. | The Washington Post
- Progressive Group Indivisible Launching Grassroots Disinformation-Fighting Campaign | Forbes
- Battling climate change and climate misinformation all at the same time | Marketplace
- The Conservative Disinformation Campaign Against Nikole Hannah-Jones | Slate
International News
- Pride breaks with Halifax libraries after controversial book kept on shelves | CBC
- Mi’kmaw author says province sought removal of poems from book considered for use in schools | CBC
- How a fight about the Great Barrier Reef has become a free speech test | The Sydney Morning Herald
- Qatar charges migrant activist with taking payment to spread disinformation | Reuters
- China Takes Major Step Towards Finalizing National Data Regulation Regime | JDSupra
- Hong Kongers get creative as authorities ban Tiananmen vigil | The Japan Times
Around the Web
- “Dangerous Ideas” is an engrossing history of censorship | The Economist
- Judge rules library appointment was not an open meetings law violation | Daily Advertiser
- The Porn Crisis that Isn’t | The Atlantic
- How to Be Obscene | The New Yorker
ALA News
- ALA welcomes FY 2022 White House Budget Proposal
- AASL opens call for Knowledge Quest and School Library Research Editorial Board members
- ALA Joint Digital Content Working Group paper calls for improved access, licensing models, pricing to serve readers
- Library Career Mentoring Available
ALA Publishing
Awards and Grants
- IMLS announces $15 million in Library/Museum American Rescue Plan Act grants
- Shawnee (Okla.) Middle School Wins ALA’s 2021 Jaffarian Award for Tulsa Race Massacre Program
eCourses and Webinars
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