Intellectual Freedom News 7/02/2021
Highlights
- Nominations are now open for the I Love My Librarian Award – Has a librarian made a difference in your life? Nominations for this year’s I Love My Librarian Award are open until September 27, 2021. Ten amazing librarians from public, school, and college/university libraries will win $5,000 each in recognition of their outstanding service to their communities. If you know a librarian who’s gone above and beyond, especially during the pandemic, submitting a nomination is the perfect way to thank them. Learn more and submit a nomination at ilovelibraries.org/ilovemylibrarian.
Censorship
- Trevor Noah book about apartheid among 3 removed from Putnam reading list after outcry | News4Jax
- Library book display causes backlash | The Sun
- Students, community members protest ‘divisive concepts’ law Sunday in Keene [NH] | Keene Sentinel
- Anoka County under scrutiny after internal library memo leak | KARE11
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- NSA surveillance program still raises privacy concerns years after exposure, member of privacy watchdog says | The Washington Post
- Watchdog: 10 Government Agencies Deployed Clearview AI Facial Recognition Tech | NextGov
- Spy plane surveillance violates Fourth Amendment, en banc appeals court rules | ABA Journal
- Supreme Court’s TransUnion Ruling Curbs Consumer Privacy Claims | Bloomberg Law
- Maine passes the strongest state facial recognition ban yet | The Verge
More privacy news is available at the Voices for Privacy blog.
First Amendment, Free Speech, & Civil Liberties
- When a Valedictorian Spoke of His Queer Identity, the Principal Cut Off His Speech | The New York Times
- Tennessee Sued Over New Transgender Bathroom Sign Law | U.S. News & World Report
- Alaska Airlines announces ‘gender-neutral’ policies in response to ACLU letter | HR Drive
- “F— school, f— softball, f— cheer, f— everything,” Except First Amendment Protections for Student Speech | JDSupra
- Supreme Court gives victory to transgender student who sued to use bathroom | CNN
- Supreme Court Upholds Arizona Voting Restrictions | The New York Times
- Iowa ACLU: Back the Blue Act inhibits First Amendment rights | The Center Square
- Justices Pass Up Case Questioning Device Searches at U.S. Border | Bloomberg Law [paywalled]
- National LGBTQ civil rights group sues Florida over transgender sports ban | Orlando Sentinel
- A Florida Free Speech Professor Discusses Ron DeSantis’ Assault on the First Amendment | Rolling Stone
- What Do Conservatives Fear About Critical Race Theory? | The New Yorker
- UN rights chief: Reparations needed for people facing racism | Associated Press
- The ACLU on fighting critical race theory bans: ‘It’s about our country reckoning with racism’ | The Guardian
- Supreme Court declines to decide whether religious flower shop owner can refuse same-sex weddings | CNBC
Net Neutrality & Broadband
Copyright
- The First NFT Book Marketplace Goes Live | Digital Journal
Access
- Why Prisoners Like Me Need Internet Access | MIT Technology Review
- The Internet is Rotting | The Atlantic
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- In push against ‘indoctrination,’ DeSantis mandates survey of Florida college students’ beliefs | The Washington Post
- Wisconsin, Ohio, and Pennsylvania bills threaten academic freedom over race and sex instruction | FIRE
- A New Magna Charta: A foundational global document on academic freedom and university autonomy gets a rewrite. | Inside Higher Ed
- The FBI accused him of spying for China. It ruined his life. | MIT Technology Review
- The Far Right’s College Crusade | Chronicle of Higher Education
- The UNC Scandal No One Talks About | Chronicle of Higher Education
- After Controversial Delay, UNC Awards Tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones | Chronicle of Higher Education
- Banning ‘critical race theory’ would be bad for conservatives, too | The Washington Post
Social Media
- TikTok insiders say social media company is tightly controlled by Chinese parent ByteDance | CNBC
- Judge Sides With YouTube In Discrimination Battle | MediaPost
- Judge blocks Florida law aimed at punishing social media companies | CNET
- Judge Throws Out 2 Antitrust Cases Against Facebook | The New York Times
- Prominent Women Call for Tech Giants to Act Against Online Harassment | The New York Times
Journalism & Media
- The US Takedown of Iranian Media Sites Extends a Thorny Precedent | WIRED
- Opinion: How small news outlets are pushing back against Big Tech | The Washington Post
Information Literacy & Disinformation
- Opinion: A war on truth is raging. Not everyone recognizes we’re in it. | The Washington Post
- Decoding Tucker Carlson’s latest conspiracy theory | Coda Story
- Anti-vax group mounts legal blitz to sow disinformation against vaccinations | The Guardian
- Covid vaccine hesitancy: Misinformation ‘spreads faster than virus’ | BBC
- Obama: ‘We should all be worried’ about misinformation that prompted Capitol riot | The Hill
International News
- Primary School in China’s Shandong Calls on Parents to Search Out Foreign Books | Radio Free Asia
- ‘Stop denying racism, start dismantling it,’ U.N. rights chief says | Reuters
- ‘A Form of Brainwashing’: China Remakes Hong Kong | The New York Times
- Chinese censorship found at Australian universities – rights group | Reuters
- Bollywood: Filmmakers cry foul over censorship proposals | BBC
Around the Web
- Schocharie [NY] residents enraged over firing of beloved librarian | Times Union
- ‘Crack their skulls’: The latest book on Trump shows America had a narrow escape | Independent
- People want to censor education for the same reasons that slaves weren’t allowed to read | LGBTQ Nation
- Half of New Hampshire’s Diversity Council Quits Over New Law, Citing Censorship Concerns | Newsweek
- North Dakota State Library removes Dr. Seuss book, but not for racist imagery | Bismarck Tribune
- The Republican Party, Racial Hypocrisy, and the 1619 Project | The New Yorker
- What Do Teachers Think About Discussing Racism in Class? We Asked Them | Education Week
- Libraries and the Curse of Knowledge | Lorcan Dempsey
- ‘Bigger than life’: Champion of public library services Regina Minudri dies at age 84 | Daily Californian
- Marjorie Taylor Greene says LGBTQ-inclusive school curriculums are ‘child abuse’ | Metro Weekly
- Library of Congress Looks to AI to Help Users Sift Through Its Collection | The Wall Street Journal
ALA News
- Emerging Leaders 2020-21 Cohort Celebrate – Projects Available for Review
- Choice publishes white paper exploring the opportunities streaming services provide to academic libraries
- Former President of the United States Barack Obama will headline ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition (Virtual) Closing Session
- Programs and Activities for Job Seekers
Awards and Grants
- ALA’s International Relations Round Table Awards Registration Grants for the IFLA 2021 Conference
- Emergency Connectivity Fund $7 billion application window opens
- ALA distributes $1.25 million in COVID emergency relief to 34 U.S. libraries
- Accepting Applications for 2022 Class of ALA Emerging Leaders
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