Intellectual Freedom News 7/20/18
July 20, 2018 – Collated by OIF Staff and News Editors
Intellectual Freedom Highlights
- Libraries = Strong Communities | American Libraries; “Libraries are bastions of democracy, access, intellectual freedom, diversity, and the public good. They play a central role in helping people and communities.”
- Kennedy’s Retirement and Library Issues: What the open Supreme Court seat could mean | American Libraries
- AASL releases new resource guide: “Defending Intellectual Freedom: LGBTQ+ Materials in School Libraries”
Censorship
Privacy
- Microsoft calls for facial recognition technology rules given ‘potential for abuse’ | The Guardian
- Tech consumers should not be forced to sacrifice privacy for security | CNBC
- Schools can now get facial recognition tech for free. Should they? | Wired
See this week’s additional privacy news and updates on the Choose Privacy Everyday blog.
Net Neutrality and Broadband Access
- A single House Republican sides with Democrats on net neutrality | Mashable
- Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: Net Neutrality is a ‘consumer expectation’ | Fortune
- 5 school and library applicants weigh in on E-rate | eSchool News
Filtering
- Researchers find that filters don’t prevent porn | TechCrunch
- Research confirms the anecdotal evidence: Internet content filters are a waste of money | TechDirt
- Sky blue, water wet, porn filters don’t work | Boing Boing; “In Internet Filtering and Adolescent Exposure to Online Sexual Material, two researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute reveal their empirical findings on the efficacy of porn filters — the online systems that are supposed to stop users from seeing sexual images, videos, and text. Their conclusion: porn filters don’t work.”
Access
- Rutherford County’s new library to fulfill needs in ‘digital desert’ | Daily News Journal (TN)
- Who’s welcome here? | Inside Higher Ed
Free Press, Social Media, and Fake News
- House Republicans float online conspiracy theories in hearing about social media ‘censorship’ | NBC News
- As fake news spreads, algorithms and ‘filter bubbles’ take centre stage | Business Standard
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- UNC chancellor and provost affirm academic freedom principles, but with a caveat | News & Observer (NC)
- UT: Professors have academic freedom, despite what we say in court | The Statesman; “In defending its policy allowing the concealed carry of handguns in classrooms, the University of Texas has taken a surprising position in a federal appeals court — that individual professors do not have academic freedom.”
First Amendment and Free Speech
- The Cybersecurity 202: Anti-censorship tool opens new rift between lawmakers and tech companies | The Washington Post
- Lawmakers don’t grasp the sacred tech law they want to gut | Wired (Section 230)
- Judge lifts controversial order requiring the LA Times to alter article about an ex-Glendale cop | Los Angeles Times
Around the Web
- This pro-America book could buck the left-wing YA trend | The New York Post
- A landmark legal shift opens Pandora’s box for DIY guns | Wired
- Use of mobile devices for news continues to grow, outpacing desktops and laptops | Pew Research Center FactTank
International Issues
- US politicians urge Google, Facebook not to censor Vietnamese | Voice of America News
- The struggle for freedom of speech in Tajikistan | Open Democracy
- ‘Saturday Night Live’ pulled in China amid crackdown on content | The New York Times
- New ruling on freedom of speech will help protect against hate | The Star (Ontario, Canada)
ALA News
- Nominations invited for annual Downs Intellectual Freedom Award | iSchool, University of Illinois
- Library Card Sign-up Month artwork starring the Incredibles now available | ALA News
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