Intellectual Freedom News 8/23/19
Highlights
- Make a powerful statement about censorship. Purchases of Banned Books Week materials supports the office’s work in defending and promoting the freedom to read.
- ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom is excited to share a new Facebook group with you. “Celebrate Banned Books Week” is a community designed to foster meaningful conversation and share engaging ideas for anyone who celebrates Banned Books Week.
- Searching for Intellectual Freedom Bloggers 2020 – Apply by September 30th
Censorship
- Corrections secretary eliminates banned book list for Kansas prisons, deploys new policy | The Topeka Capital-Journal
- School Board votes down book ban request | Ocala Star Banner (FL)
- Author Alice Walker decries the efforts to censor San Francisco’s George Washington murals as ‘Ignorant and Backwards’ | Art Net
- Illinois prison bans Frederick Douglass’s memoir and other “racial” books | GQ
- Gardendale parent upset over book included on summer reading list | WVTM13 (AL); ‘The God of Small Things’
- Don’t leave students in the dark | OIF Blog
Privacy and Cybersecurity
- Libraries blast media giant about public privacy concerns | Jackson Hole News & Guide
- States Battle Big Tech Over Data Privacy Laws | Pew Stateline Blog Trusts
- Facebook has a new privacy tool to protect your data — here’s how to use it now | CNet
- Trump administration reportedly wants to extend NSA phone surveillance program |CNet
- Black Hat: GDPR privacy law exploited to reveal personal data | BBC News
- Twenty-three Texas Municipalities Crushed by Coordinated Ransomware Attack | Data Privacy & Security Insider
- Legislators ask 50-plus firms to explain how they use the ‘vast amount of data’ they collect on students | Washington Post
Additional privacy news updates are available at the Choose Privacy Everyday blog.
Access
- Library has become crucial ‘access point’ for Pa. urban residents unable to afford wireless | Penn Live
- Wichita Library considers sex offender checks for program presenters | KSN.com
- Some Alaska University cuts rolled back, public libraries still threatened | Library Journal
- Smartphones help blacks, Hispanics bridge some – but not all – digital gaps with whites | Pew Research Fact Tank
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
- Wireless carriers throttling Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, according to study | Forbes
- Think video on your phone is slow? It’s not your imagination | Wired
- The FCC has no idea how many people don’t have broadband access | Ars Technica
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- ‘Hijacking’ free speech | Inside Higher Ed
- Banned books to dissident scholars: Promoting higher education values to curb censorship | OIF Blog
- As White Supremacists Try to Remake History, Scholars Seek to Preserve the Record | Chronicle of Higher Education
Fake News, Free Press, Social Media
- Federal officials raise concerns about White House plan to police alleged social media censorship |CNN
- Despite bias claims, new data shows that Facebook is still not censoring conservatives | Media Matters for America
- Could the FCC Regulate Social Media Under Section 230? No. | Public Knowledge
- Josh Hawley Says Tech Enables ‘Some of the Worst of America’ | Wired
- Sheriff in conservative county defends free press | The New York Times
- Instagram now fact-checks, but who will do the checking? | Wired
- Older Americans, Black Adults and Americans With Less Education More Interested in Local News | Pew Research Center
First Amendment & Free Speech
- City sues to remove Confederate monument, citing free speech | The New York Times (Virginia)
- Videographers Have First Amendment Right Not to Make Same-Sex Wedding Videos (Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals)| The Volokh Conspiracy
- Missouri Federal judge finds state representative violated First Amendment by Twitter blocking | Constitutional Law Prof Blog
- Punishing Congress members for free speech violates First Amendment | Freedom Forum Institute
Around the Web
- Queer Reflections: New Views from Library Drag Storytimes (Paper Presented at IFLA Athens 2019)
- Florida DOE posts dated, mostly white booklist. Twitter reacts | School Library Journal
- As Trump balks on census help centers, libraries prepare to pick up slack | San Antonio Express-News
- How an Online Mob Created a Playbook for a Culture War | The New York Times
International Issues
- How China uses Twitter and Facebook to share disinformation about Hong Kong | NPR
- Turkey extends censorship rules to streaming services. Critics say political dissent is the real target | Los Angeles Times
- Indonesia blocks internet in West Papua as protest rages | A lJazeera
- Pluralities in most emerging economies believe government should ensure equal internet access | Pew Research Center Fact Tank
ALA News
- 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
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
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