Intellectual Freedom News 7/23/2021
Highlights
- Mural honors Bartlesville librarian fired during McCarthy era | Examiner-Enterprise
- Volunteer to Serve on ALA, Council, and Joint Committees for 2022-2024!
Censorship
- Right-Wingers Are Taking Over Library Boards to Remove Books on Racism | Truthout
- Amid growing critical race theory legislation, education experts say textbook content could be next | NBC News
- ‘Divisive concepts’ ban is NH law. Will it affect the way teachers do their jobs? | Seacoastonline
- Needham schools remove Trevor Noah’s book from summer reading assignment | Wicked Local
- Leadership team purged at Sewickley Academy following parent pushback on equity initiatives | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- NCGOP would ban K-12 promotion of views about race | WWAY
- Parents speak out against book donation | Times News Online
- Alabama School Board debates resolution banning teaching of critical race theory in schools | CBS 42
- Bullock Texas State History Museum Censors History Book Event | National Coalition Against Censorship
- Booking censorship at Bullock history museum | The Eagle
- Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty calls on Elmbrook School District to remove sexually explicit books from library | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
- Letter to the editor: Your library, censorship, and the rise of Hitler | NorthcentralPA.com
- ‘Drama’ continues over student access to books with sexually explicit content | The Augusta Chronicle
- Norwalk library considering removal of Sikh children’s book | The Hour
- Some in Campbell County Criticize Library Over Pride Month Collection | Wyoming Public Radio
- Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts) Under Fire by Christian Right Group in Irving, Texas | Book Riot
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- The Assault on Our Privacy Is Being Conducted in Private | The New York Times
- Concern trolls and power grabs: Inside Big Tech’s angry, geeky, often petty war for your privacy | Protocol
- Washington vs. Washington: How one state became the center of the tech privacy fight | Politico
- Facial Recognition Creates Risks for Trans Individuals, Others | Government Technology
- Federal Agencies Can’t Resist Using and Abusing Facial Recognition | Reason
- Facial recognition surges in retail stores | Axios
- Black teen kicked out of skating rink after facial recognition camera misidentified her | Fox News 4
- State Data Privacy Bills Growing More Widespread | NextGov
- Private Israeli spyware used to hack cellphones of journalists, activists worldwide | The Washington Post
- A Prominent Priest Was Outed for Using Grindr. Experts Say It’s a Warning Sign. | Slate
More privacy news is available at the Voices for Privacy blog.
First Amendment, Free Speech, & Civil Liberties
- Texas Republicans Reveal Bills of Far-Reaching Voting Restrictions | The New York Times
- Judge blocks Tennessee’s transgender bathroom sign law | NBC News
- Supreme Court Reaffirms First Amendment Protection For Associational Privacy | JDSupra
- Republican lawmakers push to cast vaccine refusal as a civil rights issue | The Guardian
- Federal judge blocks Arkansas trans youth treatment ban | Independent
- Alleged Capitol rioter’s laptop unlocked using facial recognition | The Hill
Net Neutrality & Broadband
- Biden Wants the FCC to Fix Net Neutrality–but It Can’t Yet | WIRED
- Why Net Neutrality Can’t Wait | ACLU
- We Want To See Your Internet Bill | The Verge
Copyright
- What Cops Understand About Copyright Filters: They Prevent Legal Speech | EFF
- Google fined €500m by France’s antitrust watchdog over copyright | The Guardian
- Twitch adds new copyright management tools along with reworked DMCA guidelines for creators | Dot Esports
- Instagram is counting on controversial copyright test to save its image(s) | Reuters
- CCC’s Roy Kaufman Named to the Library of Congress Copyright Public Modernization Committee | Business Wire
Access
- ‘If it gets cut, where do the kids go?’ | Chicago Sun-Times
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- Resolution opposing critical race theory would violate NU policy, faculty say | The Daily Nonpareil
- Clarence Thomas Slams Qualified Immunity For College Officials In First Amendment Case | Forbes
- The Culture War Has Come for Higher Ed | Chronicle of Higher Education
- Chapel Hill faculty fear retaliation by BOG after law professor kept off UNC Press board | The News & Observer
- NU president, chancellors oppose CRT resolution, uphold academic freedom | The Daily Nebraskan
Social Media
- Texas AG to stop blocking critics on Twitter, ending First Amendment suit | The Hill
- Welcome to TikTok’s endless cycle of censorship and mistakes | MIT Technology Review
- Strategic Knowledge: Teens use “algorithmic folklore” to crack TikTok’s black box | Data & Society
- Library workers sue New Orleans, claim criticism stifled by social media policy | 4WWL
- Right or Left, You Should Be Worried About Big Tech Censorship | EFF
- Montana public service commissioner talks need to regulate social media | KFYR
- A People’s History of Black Twitter, Part I | WIRED
- Outrage As A Business Model: How Ben Shapiro Is Using Facebook To Build An Empire | NPR
- Twitter temporarily blocks U.S. Republican Greene for COVID-19 posts | Reuters
Journalism & Media
- Justice Department formally limits seizure of reporters’ records | CNBC
- Opinion: The Press Just Got a Big Win Let’s Make It Permanent. | The New York Times
- The Expanding News Desert [interactive website] | UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media
- Looks Authentic: The aesthetics of conspiracy | Columbia Journalism Review
- Changing Landmark Libel Ruling Not a Solution to Disinformation, Lawyer Says | Voice of America
- Fact Focus: A false narrative of 74k extra votes in Arizona | Associated Press
Information Literacy & Disinformation
- White House turns up heat on Big Tech’s Covid ‘disinformation dozen’ | CNN
- The Biden administration should take the First Amendment as seriously as Facebook misinformation | The Verge
- Biden Administration’s Admission They’re Flagging Content to Facebook Sparks Furor | Newsweek
- Opinion: Censorship Coordination Deepens | Wall Street Journal
- ‘They’re Killing People’: Biden Denounces Social Media for Virus Disinformation | The New York Times
- Opinion: What the White House Doesn’t Get About Misinformation | Politico
- Just 12 people are responsible for the majority of COVID-19 conspiracy theories online, study finds. JFK’s anti-vaxxer nephew is one of the ‘disinformation dozen’ | Business Insider
- Opinion: Biden is venturing into dangerous territory by pushing Facebook to censor anti-vaccination speech | The Washington Post
- As Virus Resurges, G.O.P. Lawmakers Allow Vaccine Skepticism to Flourish | The New York Times
- Michigan will investigate people who spread election disinformation | PolitiFact
- Why some civil liberties advocates worry about crackdown on ‘misinformation’ | ABC News
- News Media Accidentally Boosted Russian Disinformation Tweets | Nextgov
- Disinformation is coming for your business | Axios
- Commentary: Fighting anti-LGBTQ disinformation key to equality | Visalia Times Delta
- ISU Experts: Media Literacy Has To Dig Deeper To Stop Disinformation | BGLT
International News
- WeChat deletion of LGBT social media accounts spurs concern about human rights, censorship | Jurist
- Chinese social media shutdown of LGBT student groups ‘highlights backlash against Western influences’ | South China Morning Post
- No cults, no politics, no ghouls: how China censors the video game world | The Guardian
- Police Want Facial Recognition Systems Installed Across Israel | Haaretz
- Cuba’s Social Media Blackout Reflects an Alarming New Normal | WIRED
- Children’s books editor to leave Hungary over anti-LGBT+ law | Reuters
- ‘British values undermined’ by Islamic school’s anti-gay book | BBC
- Hong Kong book fair sees self-censorship and fewer books | ABC News
- India Internet Law Adds to Fears Over Online Speech, Privacy | Voice of America
- Hong Kong’s press freedom left in tatters: HKJA | RTHK
- Head of BC Civil Liberties Association resigns over controversial tweet | DH News
- The Italian disinformation networks flying under Facebook’s radar | Coda
Around the Web
- ‘An incredible day’ as Lee statue removed in Charlottesville | AP
- How Renaming a Toronto Street Glosses Over Racism | Bloomberg
- Inside the Conservative Book Publishing World | Slate
- Amazon workers petition and two quit over anti-LGBTQ book sales | NBC News
- 7 sent back to Canada after using library lawn to enter U.S. from Quebec | CTV
- Gloria Richardson, civil rights pioneer, dies at 99 | Chicago Sun-Times
- Frank Askin, Firece Defender of Civil Liberties, Dies at 89 | The New York Times
- Thirteen Ways of Looking at Censorship [book review] | The New York Times
- Booksellers association apologizes for ‘violent’ distribution of ‘anti-trans’ title | The Washington Post
- A resonant tussle between “sex radicals” and a 19th-century censor [book review] | The Economist
ALA News
- ALA welcomes introduction of SUCCESS Act
- ALA applauds FY 2022 federal funding for libraries in House Appropriations bill, looks to Senate for support
Publishing
- Profiles of innovative and successful grant proposals
- Programming for adults with developmental disabilities
eLearning
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