Intellectual Freedom News 9/11/2020
Highlights
- Explore Why Intellectual Freedom and Equitable Access Are More Important Than Ever in the Sept/Oct Issue | Knowledge Quest
Censorship

- School decides to read book on Black astronaut to all students after parent complains about it | KMOX News Radio (St. Louis, MO)
- Signal Mountain teacher removes two books with African American perspective from reading list | Chattanooga Times Free Press
- Parent group furious after graphic novel included in CCSD reading list | KNTV 13 (Las Vegas, NV)
Privacy and Cybersecurity
- The Pandemic Is No Excuse to Surveil Students | Science Magazine
- Warrant canary: What you need to know about this online privacy warning sign | CNET
- Portland Passes Unprecedented Restrictions on Facial Recognition Technology | The National Law Review
- FISA Court Opinion Outlines FBI Abuse of Key Intelligence Surveillance Authority | Center for Democracy and Technology
- How Google, Apple can help assure contact tracing guards privacy | American Medical Association
- University warns that ‘serious cyber incident’ could take weeks to fix | ZDNet
- Facebook Appeals Move to Curb EU-U.S. Data Transfer | The Wall Street Journal
- GSA Data Ethics Framework | General Services Administration (USA) “When the Federal Data Strategy team created the 2020 Action Plan, they tasked the General Services Administration (GSA) with developing a Data Ethics Framework (Framework)in Action to help agency employees, managers, and leaders make ethical decisions as they acquire, manage, and use data.”
More privacy news is available at the Choose Privacy Every Day blog.
First Amendment, Free Speech, and Civil Liberties
- Land of Free (and Fettered) Speech | The Wall Street Journal
- Free Speech and Editorial Cartoons | School Librarian Leadership
- Bagley Cartoon Is ‘Exactly What The Supreme Court Envisions’ First Amendment Lawyer Says | KUER 90.1 (Salt Lake City, UT)
- How First and Second Amendments Apply in Protests | Duke Today
- Opinion: Charlie Hebdo should remind us the value of free speech | The Pitt News
- Opinion: Don’t trample our First Amendment rights | Napa Valley Register
- Scottsdale group pitches improved nondiscrimination protections | Scottsdale Independent (AZ)
Access
- Dozens of scientific journals have vanished from the internet, and no one preserved them | Science Magazine
- OER/Textbooks: OpenStax to Vastly Expand Open Education Library with Support From National Foundations | Library Journal
- New White Paper (Springer Nature and COARD): Diversifying Readership Through Open Access: A Usage Analysis for OA Books | Library Journal
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
- In remote Alaska, broadband for all remains a dream. So a school district got creative | CNET
- AT&T hopes you’ll forget its years-long fight against accurate broadband maps | Ars Technica
- Broadband in red and blue states: Three solutions to low-income internet access | Brookings
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- Education Department Finalizes Religious Freedom Rule | Inside Higher Ed
- New Trump rule ties college funding to speech, faith rights | AP News
- This Tenured Professor Said His College’s Reopening Plans Risked Deaths. That’s Now in His Personnel File. | The Chronicle of Higher Education
- Churchill: At Skidmore, curiosity might get you canceled | Albany Times-Union
- Student Press Law Center and the New England First Amendment Coalition call on schools to protect speech, press rights | Student Press Law Center
- Students, administrators discuss how they’ll address racism, hate speech at town hall meeting | Kent Wired (OH)
- Suspend and Protect | Inside Higher Ed
Fake News, Free Press, Social Media
- ‘Rumors spread like wildfire’: false posts claiming activists started Oregon fires flood social media | The Guardian
- Trump Says He Will Reverse Pentagon Plan to Close Newspaper That Informs and Speaks for Troops | New York Times
- Stars and Stripes and the First Amendment | Columbia Journalism Review
- New report: how media habits relate to voter participation | Knight Foundation
- Why the most controversial US internet law is worth saving | MIT Technology Review
- How Pseudoscientists Get Away With It | Nautilus
- TikTok says it’s committed to diversity — its history of censorship says otherwise | TNW, The Next Web
- Trump vows not to extend TikTok deadline beyond September 15 | Ars Technica
- Americans think social media can help build movements, but can also be a distraction | Pew Research Center
Copyright
- Publishers Are Taking the Internet to Court | The Nation
International News
- Feminist book called I Hate Men sells out in France after government official attempted to ban it | Daily Mail
- In China, GitHub Is a Free Speech Zone for Covid Information | Wired
- Controversial ‘King & King’ storybook draws protests on both sides | Focus Taiwan
- Centre plans to revise content of book on freedom fighters that mentions Variyamkunnath | The News Minute
- Iran’s National Information Network Not Based on Censorship: Official | IFP News
- Authors Of Delhi Riots Book File Complaint Against Bloomsbury | NDTV
- Censorship before a show: the law, rulings | The Indian Express
- In China, GitHub Is a Free Speech Zone for Covid Information | Wired
Around the Web
- Judge blocks census wind down | The Washington Post
- Public Transit and the Postal Service Have the Same Problem | Bloomberg
- School librarians can save democracy| eSchool News
- Whistleblower says top Trump appointees tried to censor reports on Russian influence | Politico
- Opinion: When Kids Can’t Afford Books During the Pandemic | Scales on Censorship, School Library Journal
- Central Park Birder Turns Clash Into Graphic Novel About Racism | The New York Times
- Schools Losing Out So Far in Court Challenges to Pandemic Orders | Education Week
- Conspiracy Theories and Intellectual Freedom | Intellectual Freedom Blog
- Controversial Mormon book pulled from publication | Religion News Service
- Call Trump’s Attacks On The 1619 Project What They Are — Censorship of American History | Forbes Magazine
- Capital Area District Libraries wants its readers to get woke | CityPULSE (Lansing, MI)
- Blacking Out Books: What Would You Do? | Intellectual Freedom Blog
ALA News
- Nominate a Superstar Librarian for the I Love My Librarian Award; Has a librarian made a difference in your life? Nominations for this year’s I Love My Librarian Award are open until November 9, 2020. Ten amazing librarians from public, school, and college/university libraries will win $5,000 each in recognition of their outstanding service to their communities. If you know a librarian who’s gone above and beyond, especially during the pandemic, submitting a nomination is the perfect way to thank them.
- Libraries Ready to Code Opens Call for Applications: Virtual Learning and Enhancement Grants; Due September 17, 2020
- ALA Scholarship Application for 2021 Now Open; Due March 1, 2021
- Core webinar will help you build a communications plan to convey your library’s values
- ALSC President Kirby McCurtis discusses #LooktoLibraries with ABC News
- ALA calls for nominations for IFLA Section Committees for 2021-2024
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