July 26, 2019 – Collated by OIF Staff and News Editors

Highlights

• ALA urges LinkedIn Learning to reconsider changes to terms of service that impair library users’ privacy rights
• Censorship beyond books: Library resources and services under fire | Carterette Series Webinar, Wednesday, August 14 @ 2 pm Eastern
• Conference Report: OIF @ #ALAAC19 | OIF Blog

Censorship

• At Drag Queen Story Hour, ‘a difference between getting upset online and showing up in person’ | Nevada Independent
• Backlash over St. Mary’s library event continues | The Enterprise (MD)
• Drag Queen Story Hour draws protests in Southern California | The Mercury News
• Westwood Regional School Board set to answer parents on challenged books | Pasack Press (NJ); ’13 Reasons Why’, ‘Can’t Get There From Here’; ‘Boot Camp’
• Leander puts controversial library policies on hold | The Austin Chronicle (TX)
• SDCC ’19: Examining the state of censorship in comics | Comics Beat

Privacy

• American Library Association blasts LinkedIn for intrusive ToS changes | ZDNet; ” Library goers will now have to use or sign up for a LinkedIn account when viewing Lynda.com courses at public libraries. “
  • Library groups say LinkedIn policy changes could violate users’ privacy | Associations Now
• Teton County Library Board instates video surveillance policy | Jackson Hole News & Guide; “Cameras record activity only outside the library, not what’s going on inside the building.”
• FTC approves settlement with Google over YouTube kids privacy violations | The Washington Post
• The FTC wants more privacy, less Zuckerberg, at Facebook | Wired
• At a glance: The new limits Facebook faces on data privacy | The New York Times
• This app lets Instagram followers track your location | Wired
• How private is your browser’s Private mode? Research into porn suggests “not very” | Ars Technica

Additional privacy news updates are available at the Choose Privacy Everyday blog.

Access

• Papers of President James A. Garfield now online | Library of Congress
• New report analyzes changes to climate topics across thousands of US Federal agency websites | Environmental Data & Governance Initiative.
• ALA denounces new Macmillan library lending model, urges library customers to voice objections | ALA News
  • Macmillan announces two-month embargo on library ebooks | Library Journal

Net Neutrality & Broadband Access

• Plan approved to spend Georgia tax money on rural internet lines | Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• The State of Broadband in America, Q2 2019 | Broadband Now

Academic Freedom & Campus Speech

• The university president’s role in addressing offensive campus ‘speech’ | New York Law Journal

Fake News, Free Press, Social Media

• Facebook knows more about you than the CIA | Wired
• Introducing the News Provenance Project | The New York Times Open; “The Times’s Research & Development team is exploring ways to make the origins of journalistic content clearer to news audiences.”
• Ad tool Facebook built to fight disinformation doesn’t work as advertised | The New York Times

First Amendment & Free Speech

• 5 key takeaways about the state of the news media in 2018 | Pew Research Center Fact Tank
• Tulsi Gabbard sues Google over post-debate ad suspension | Politico

Around the Web

• Hit by Ransomware, one Pa. library returns to paper-only loans | WITF
• 19-year-old shot inside Cleveland Public Library branch dies; library shut down while police investigate | Cleveland 19 News
• LSU student posts picture of library in response to football facility | College Spun
• Libraries are for – and should support – everyone | OIF Blog
• Happy Birthday, Susie Hinton! | OIF Blog
• Tim Berners-Lee’s ‘contract’ to protect and strengthen web is taking shape | Cnet

International Issues

• Vancouver Public Library rejected from 2019 Pride parade for allowing controversial speaker to hold event | Straight.com (Canada)
• Backlash grows against unstaffed libraries | The Guardian (UK)
• Norwegian publisher sues Russian censors over news ban | Forbes

ALA News

• ACRL releases “2018 Academic Library Trends and Statistics”
• Volunteer to Serve on ALA, Council, and Joint Committees for 2020-2022
• Accepting Applications for 2020 Class of ALA Emerging Leaders
• Nominate a superstar librarian for the I Love My Librarian award
• 2020 ALA Annual Conference Program Proposals are Now Open

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• articles about privacy, internet filtering and censorship
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