Intellectual Freedom News 6/21/19
Highlights
- Intellectual Freedom & Privacy Events in our Nation’s Capitol | OIF Blog; “ALA’s Annual Conference is in Washington D.C. this year, and the Office for Intellectual Freedom will be there staffing committee meetings, programs, and social events.”
Censorship
- Gay-themed books fuel fight over free speech at small-town library in Maine | Portland Press Herald
- Orange City book-burning case continues |nwestiowa.com
- Why are books banned in prison? Sex, drugs and a critique of systematic oppression | Salon
- Vallejo library’s Drag Queen Story Hour draws small protest; Others show up to stand with ‘Apple Adams’ and others | Times-Herald (CA)
- Spokane Police give statement regarding upcoming Drag Queen Story Hour, planned protest | KHQ 6 (WA)
- Protesters, supporters gather for Drag Queen Story Hour at South Hill library | KHQ 6 (WA)
- 250 attend Spokane library discussion about drag | The Spokesman Review
- Man arrested at Drag Queen Story Hour protest | KXLY (WA)
- Drag Queen Story Hour draws mixed reaction at King County library | K5 News WA
- Drag Queen Story Hour met with protestors at Bristol library | WLNE TV (RI)
- Protesters descend on Leander Family Pride Event | Austin Chronicle (TX)LGBTQ story hour at Leander library draws 200 protesters, supporters | Statesman (TX)
- Hundreds turn out for Drag Queen Storytime in Haverford | Daily Times (PA)Drag Queen Storytime in Haverford Township attracts national opposition | Philadelphia Magazine
- Book report: Committee, school superintendent weigh in on possible bans | Ocala.com (FL)
- Sextech company sues NYC’s subway for discriminatory ad censorship | Forbes
- JCCSF accused of ‘censorship’ in border art exhibit | The Jewish News of Northern California
- Oregon prisons ban dozens of technology and programming books over security concerns | Salem Reporter (OR)
- UCA removes sign celebrating Gay Pride Month from outside library | Arkansas Democrat Gazette
- UCA President removes gay pride sign outside library; students and community react | KARK.com (AK)
- LGBT library display changed | Shelby Star (NC)
- Tech giants head down ‘dangerous’ censorship path |The Hill
- Arizona Prisons Lift Ban On Book About Mass Incarceration | NPR
- Alexandria school board repeals textbook policy | Echo Press (MN)
Privacy
- Surrendering our privacy to technology | OIF blog
- New privacy law in Utah | OIF Blog
- House Democrats question DHS over using facial recognition tech on US citizens | The Hill
- How 13 Became the internet’s age of adulthood | Wall Street Journal
- Openly Operated wants to make privacy policies actually mean something | The Verge
- The Lofgren-Amash amendment would check warrantless surveillance | Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Don’t smile for surveillance: Why airport facial scans are a privacy trap | Washington Post
- Facebook, big tech hedge privacy risks in online support groups | Bloomberg
- Queer dating apps are unsafe by design | New York Times
- YouTube under federal investigation over allegations it violates children’s privacy | Washington Post
- Google turns to retro cryptography to keep data sets private | Wired
Additional privacy news updates are available at the Choose Privacy Everyday blog.
Access
- “A more inclusive future”: How ACRL’s new research agenda is working to make scholarly communications more open and accessible | American Libraries
- Translated books gain visibility in libraries | Publishers Weekly
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
- Internet far slower in Georgia than reported | Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Like politics, all broadband policy is local | Government Technology
- Illinois Congressional representatives ask FCC to improve rural broadband | The Herald-News (IL)
- SHLB Says FCC Order to Auction EBS Spectrum Would be Disastrous for Students, 5G and Rural America | Schools, Health, and Libraries Coalition
- Ajit Pai tries to kill San Francisco’s attempt to spur broadband competition | Ars Technica
Copyright
- Jury orders Provo’s VidAngel to pay $62.4 million for violating Hollywood studios’ copyright by filtering movies | Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
Fake News, Free Press, Social Media
- President Trump Accuses the New York ‘Times’ of a ‘Virtual Act of Treason’ for an article his own administration reportedly cleared | Time
- Europe is starting to tackle disinformation. The U.S. is lagging. | Washington Post
- How rural America can grab a bigger megaphone | Washington Post; “Gecan has found that one of the most effective ways he can reach people is by using an institution many see going by the wayside in the Internet age–the public library.”
- Sen. Hawley’s “Bias” Bill Would Let the Government Decide Who Speaks | Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Josh Hawley wants to stop internet censorship by censoring the internet | Slate
- Josh Hawley’s internet censorship bill is an unwise, unconstitutional mess | National Review
- Down the rabbit hole with deep fakes | Knowledge Quest
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- Academic Freedom: universities must take a stance or risk becoming complicit with Chinese government interference | The Conversation
- Oberlin College case shows how universities are losing their way | The Hill
- Disinvited speakers get a platform to talk about being denied one | Chronicle for Higher Education
First Amendment & Free Speech
- White House “chills” on free speech | Freedom Forum Institute
- To protect and to slur: Inside hate groups on Facebook, police officers trade racist memes, conspiracy theories and Islamophobia | Reveal
- Grayson Fritts won’t be fired because of fear of free-speech lawsuits, Knox sheriff says | Knox News (TN)
- Parkland survivor and former turning point activist says Harvard pulled his admission after racist speech surfaced | Chronicle of Higher Education
- Blind reverence for the U.S. Constitution–on the left and right–is tearing us apart | Fast Company
Around the Web
- An updated look at diversity in children’s books | School Library Journal
- School librarians should be required, not fodder for short-term cuts | School Library Journal
- Intellectual freedom fighters, part 4: Reporters without borders | OIF Blog
- Champion of libraries and democracy: An interview with Nancy Kranich | OIF Blog
- Book anonymously returned to Greensboro library — 41 years late | Winston-Salem Journal (NC)
- Drag queens take over library storytime | KQAT (NM)
- A sparkling gala for the American Library in Paris | France Today
- ‘Bleeped,’ the new podcast about censorship, tells stories about the fight for the right to speech | Forbes
- Books by Stephen King are banned in Kansas prisons. He found out on Twitter. | Miami Herald (FL)
- Inclusive Internship Initiative begins another chapter: PLA program preps teens to give back through the library | American Libraries
International Issues
- Internet blackouts: The rise of government-imposed shutdowns | Aljazeera
- Hong Kong’s digital battle: tech that helped protesters now used against them | The Guardian
- Russia used social media to keep EU voters at home, report finds | The Verge
- Chernobyl: Russian communist party calls for ‘disgusting’ HBO show to be banned | The Independent
- Do you hear the people sing? Not in China | The Economist
- The ‘Great Firewall’: China censors videos, social media posts of Hong Kong protests | Los Angeles Times
- New Zealand judge sends neo-Nazi to prison for sharing mosque shooting video | Ars Technica
ALA News
- July PLA webinar explores access issues related to unreturned library materials
- ALA ‘concerned’ about Hachette Book Group ebook and audio book lending model changes
- Nominate a superstar librarian for the I Love My Librarian award
- Celebrate the best in LGBTQIA+ literature at the 2019 Stonewall Book Awards
- 2020 ALA Annual Conference Program Proposals are Now Open
- Thirty-six participants selected for seventh ALA Leadership Institute
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