Highlight

• New banned book masks on ALA Graphics Gift Shop and last day to enjoy 15% savings | ALA Graphics Gift Shop
• American Library Association announces 2021 Midwinter Meeting will be Virtual

Censorship

• Illinois community leaders ask the state to cease its current history lessons and remove current books | CNN
• Tulane Canceled a Talk by the Author of an Acclaimed Anti-Racism Book After Students Said the Event Was ‘Violent’ | Reason

Privacy and Cybersecurity

• Police Requests for Google Users’ Location Histories Face New Scrutiny | Wall Street Journal
• NSA Warns Cellphone Location Data Could Pose National-Security Threat | Wall Street Journal
  • Limiting Location Data Exposure | National Security Agency
• The Case for Banning Law Enforcement From Using Facial Recognition Technology | The Justice Collaborative Institute
• Jeff Merkley and Bernie Sanders have a plan to protect you from facial recognition | Vox
  • Facial Recognition’s Next Big Play: the Sports Stadium | Wall Street Journal
  • The hack that could make face recognition think someone else is you | MIT Technology Review
• Privacy problems are widespread for Alexa and Google Assistant voice apps, according to researchers | Venture Beat
• The College Board Is Sharing Student Data Once Again | Consumer Reports

Additional privacy news for August 7 and updates are available at the Choose Privacy Every Day blog.

First Amendment, Free Speech, and Civil Liberties

• Free Speech Fights Have Historically Targeted the Left | Teen Vogue
• Man Sues Cops After Being Arrested Over ‘F *** the Police’ Remark, Claims First Amendment Violated | Newsweek
• Minnesota case was fatal to Trump’s recent book-ban battles | MinnPost
• US Protest Law Tracker | International Center for Non-Profit Law “The US Protest Law Tracker, part of ICNL’s US Program, follows initiatives at the state and federal level since November 2016 that restrict the right to peaceful assembly.”

Access

• Are There Exceptions to Face-Mask Requirements? | American Libraries
• Reclosing … after Reopening | American Libraries; “Libraries prioritize worker and patron safety amid shifting recommendations”

Net Neutrality & Broadband Access

• The Technology 202: Congressional fight over funding for digital learning could leave behind as many as 15 million kids | Washington Post
• Republican HEALS Would Rip and Replace Broadband | Benton Institute for Broadband and Society
• States eager to expand broadband, wary of CARES Act deadline | Associated Press
• The great broadband divide: Living without high-speed internet access | Sunday Morning

Academic Freedom & Campus Speech

• Editorial: Lawmakers, don’t meddle in Cal State’s ethnic studies curriculum | Los Angeles Times
• Lecturer’s anti-police tweet leads to legislative pressure on Auburn University, which says it is exploring ‘options’ | FIRE
  • Lecturer Who Tweeted About Police Won’t Teach | Inside Higher Ed

Fake News, Free Press, Social Media

• Americans are losing faith in an objective media. A new Gallup/Knight study explores why. | Medium
  • American Views 2020: Trust, Media and Democracy | Knight Foundation
• As election looms, a network of mysterious ‘pink slime’ local news outlets nearly triples in size | Columbia Journalism Review
• The Truth Is Paywalled But the Lies Are Free | Current Affairs
• Facebook Must Better Police Online Hate, State Attorneys General Say | The New York Times
  • Facebook’s fact-checkers have ruled claims in Trump ads are false — but no one is telling Facebook’s users | Washington Post
  • Trump campaign’s false COVID-19 claims taken down by Facebook and Twitter | Ars Technica
  • Twitter permanently bans former KKK leader David Duke | The Hill
  • How social media platforms can help solve the debate about cancel culture and hate speech | The Hill
• Ajit Pai calls for “vigorous debate” on Trump’s social media crackdown | Ars Technica
• Trump pulls re-nomination of FCC Republican who stood up for First Amendment | Ars Technica
  • Mike O’Rielly’s Free Speech Fall | Wall Street Journal
• Trump administration gives TikTok 45 days to sell to Microsoft or leave US | Ars Technica
  • TikTok Ban: A Seed of Genuine Security Concern Wrapped in a Thick Layer of Censorship | Electronic Frontier Foundation

Copyright

• With Remote Learning Still the Norm, Publishers Extend Permissions for Read Alouds | School Library Journal
• Libraries are not a crime | Jurist

International News

• Chinese government censorship poses clear risk to creative freedom in U.S. filmmaking | PEN America
• Books pulled from library shelves, songs banned…it’s the new normal in Hong Kong | The Guardian
• Abductions, Censorship and Layoffs: Pakistani Critics Are Under Siege | New York Times
• UK lecturers ‘strongly support colleagues’ academic freedom’ | The Guardian
• Brazil Bolsonaro: Facebook told to block accounts of president’s supporters | BBC
• Petition against drag queens at Timaru library | Stuff.Co.NZ (New Zealand)

Around the Web

• Eliminating Blackface Doesn’t Start By Pretending It Didn’t Happen | Tor.com
• Discussion on school board social justice letter leads to heated debate | Three Rivers Community News
• Apostasy! | Intellectual Freedom Blog
• US Eyes TikTok Ban While Books are Pulled From Hong Kong Libraries | Intellectual Freedom Blog
• From Minecraft Tricks to Twitter Hack: A Florida Teen’s Troubled Online Path | New York Times

ALA News

• Lack of broadband access within tribal communities, fuels grave concern among nation’s library leaders
• Free resources empower parents, caregivers with tools to navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic with youth
• American Library Association announces 2021 Midwinter Meeting will be Virtual
• AASL announces Best Digital Tools for Teaching & Learning
• Volunteer to Serve on ALA, Council, and Joint Committees for 2021-2023
• ALA COVID-19 resources guide path to reopening and recovery
• ALA, Capital One invite rural libraries to apply for Community Connect: Digital Access at Home grants; due August 26
• Libraries invited to apply for ALA’s ‘Resilient Communities: Libraries Respond to Climate Change’; due August 28

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