Highlights

• Let Students Learn: Our Response to the Removal of Classic Novels from Mat-Su School Curriculum | Intellectual Freedom Blog; Alaska librarians join forces with free speech organizations and the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom to fight for student’s freedom to read. Read the full letter to the Mat-Su school board.
• Webinar: Banned Books Uncensored: Health, Sex & Growing Up!
• Mark your calendar, ALA Virtual: Community through Connection June 24-26, 2020
• The Public Library Association and Microsoft announce initiative to help expand internet access in rural communities during COVID-19 crisis

Library Services & COVID-19 Resources

• ALA COVID-19 response; “The resources on this page represent the ongoing work at ALA during these challenging times. We are pressing forward in anticipation of what you and your library need from us and what your communities need from you.”
• Pandemic Preparedness: Resources for Libraries | American Library Association
• Why weren’t libraries included on Illinois’ essential list?| News Tribune (IL)
• Boston Public Library Finds Ways to Safely Serve Homeless, Recovering Patrons Thru Pandemic | Library Journal
• Emergency Fund Launches to Help Archival Workers Facing Financial Difficulties During COVID-19 | Library Journal
• Documenting the Pandemic: Libraries Launch COVID-19 Archival Projects | Library Journal

Censorship

• Mat-Su school board to vote again on decision to pull 5 books from English classes | Anchorage Daily Press
  • ‘Not a full ban’: Mat-Su school board president responds to controversy over book removal | Anchorage Press (AK)
  • An Open Letter to the Mat-Su School Board | Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman (AK)
  • The Mat-Su Valley Banned Book Challenge | Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman
  • Community speaks out on Mat-Su book ban | KTVA (AK)
  • Banned Books Poll Results | Anchorage Press
  • Banned books? A pandemic? What year is it?! | Anchorage Press
  • Five books were removed from a local school district curriculum. Now, an Alaskan band is getting the novels into the hands of readers. | KTUU (AK)
  • Alaska School District Votes to Ban 2 Iconic Military Books | Military.com
  • Juneau board has no plans to follow Mat-Su’s lead on banned books | Juneau Empire (AK)
  • Free food and $100 prizes: Alaskans rally to get challenged classics to students | The Guardian
  • Alaska School District Votes Out ‘Catch-22,’ ‘Gatsby’ and Other Classics | New York Times
  • Banning books is back and the books they’re banning are cooler than ever | Los Angeles Times
• Top 10 Most Challenged Books List
  • “George” Again Tops List of 10 Most Challenged Books | School Library Journal
    • Authors New to the Challenged List: Jarrett J. Krosoczka & Meredith Russo | Intellectual Freedom Blog
  • Most Challenged Books | New York Times: The Learning Network
• Lawmakers introduce legislation to combat global censorship, boost internet freedom | The Hill
• Cruz bill aims to block Pentagon help to studios that censor films for China | Politico
• Pulling Moore climate film would be censorship | PEN America

Privacy and Cybersecurity

• Privacy During the COVID-19 Pandemic | Choose Privacy Everyday (Updated Weekly)
• Managers turn to Surveillance Software, Always on Webcams to Ensure Employees are (Really) Working from Home | The Washington Post
• Shift to online learning ignites student privacy concerns | IAPP
• Virtual Programming and Patron Privacy | ALSC Blog
• A scramble for virus apps that do no harm | New York Times
• Prepare for less privacy | Axios
• Can We Track COVID-19 and Protect Privacy at the Same Time? | New Yorker
• Special Report: Cyber-intel firms pitch governments on spy tools to trace coronavirus | Reuters
• Exam anxiety: How remote test-proctoring is creeping students out| The Verge

Additional privacy posts, news, and updates are available at the Choose Privacy Every Day blog.

Access

• Supreme Court rules Georgia can’t put the law behind a paywall | Ars Technica
• Op-Ed: The sale of the .org registry to a private equity firm was just blocked. Here’s why it matters | Los Angeles Times
• Detroit Students Have a Constitutional Right to Literacy, Court Rules | New York Times
• Some School Districts Plan to End the Year Early, Call Remote Learning Too Tough | Wall Street Journal
• Experts: Arizona officials unlawfully holding COVID-19 information | ABC15 (AZ)

Copyright

• Supreme Court rules Georgia can’t put the law behind a paywall | Ars Technica

Net Neutrality & Broadband Access

• This Rural School District Has Been Asking for Wi-Fi for Years. Now It’s Finally Getting It. | ProPublica
• Libraries and Schools Are Bridging the Digital Divide During the Coronavirus Pandemic | Consumer Reports
• Teachers Without Internet Work in Parking Lots, Empty School Buildings During COVID-19 | Education Week
• Joint Letter to Congress on Broadband in Stimulus Bills | Public Knowledge
• Report Underscores Role of State Policy in Broadband Expansion | Pew Research Center
• During the pandemic the FCC needs to provide internet for all | Wired
• Members of Congress, Digital-Rights and Social-Justice Advocates Call for COVID-19 Legislation to Support Phone and Internet Access for All | Free Press
• 53% of Americans Say the Internet Has Been Essential During the COVID-19 Outbreak | Pew Research Center
• FCC commissioner: Our agency says all Americans are gaining advanced Internet access. It’s wrong | CNN Business
• From virtual parties to ordering food, how Americans are using the internet during COVID-19 | Pew Research Center

Hate Speech | Hate Crimes

• Covid-19 has caused a major spike in anti-Chinese and anti-Semitic hate speech | The New Statesman

Fake News, Free Press, Social Media

• Internet Speech Will Never Go Back to Normal | The Atlantic
• The Anti-Quarantine Protests Aren’t About COVID-19 | Wired
• Adding a ‘D’ to the ABC disinformation framework | Brookings
• Trolls and bots are flooding social media with disinformation encouraging states to end quarantine | Business Insider
• Fighting Misinformation During a Pandemic | Columbia Journalism Review
• The Deepfake iPhone Apps Are Here | Lawfare
• New Twitter Censorship Rules Raise Transparency Questions | Real Clear Politics

First Amendment & Free Speech

• When can the government prevent me from assembling, anyway? | Intellectual Freedom Blog
• Ohio statehouse protestors have right to gather, no right to spread virus, says former judge | NBC 4 (OH)
• The Lady at the Old Bailey: Lady Chatterley’s Lover on Trial | The New Yorker

Around the Web

• Requests for Reconsideration at the Public Library Part Three: Scantily Clad Superheroes | Intellectual Freedom Blog
• An Historical and Future Perspective of IFRT | Intellectual Freedom Blog
• The coronavirus is changing how people buy books | Wired
• Building More Inclusive Cultures at Work While We’re at Home | National Center for Women and Information Technology
• Georgia’s Experiment in Human Sacrifice | The Atlantic
• Why Is Zoom So Exhausting? | The Chronicle of Higher of Education

International Issues

• Germany flips to Apple-Google approach on smartphone contact tracing | Reuters
• Europe’s Privacy Law Hasn’t Shown Its Teeth, Frustrating Advocates | New York Times
• Contact tracing needs to balance public health benefits with privacy: Trudeau | National Post (Canada)
• Facebook criticized for accepting Vietnam’s censorship | UCA News

ALA News

• Freedom to Read Foundation Offers 2020 Banned Books Week Grants; deadline May 31
• American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer and Author Misty Copeland to Open First-Ever ALA Virtual Event on June 24, 2020
• Meet the 2020 ALA Policy Corps
• GLBT Book Month™ given new name
• 2020 YALSA Teens’ Top Ten nominees announced
• Library associations underscore importance of IMLS COVID-19 efforts
• ALA releases 2020 State of Libraries report
• Join the “IFRT Reads” community; “IFRT Reads” is a virtual discussion group where IFRT members have opportunities to expand their knowledge and current awareness of intellectual freedom topics by discussing a shared reading venture. There will be a Connect discussion and a live group discussion for each reading.
• Newest issue of The Journal of Intellectual Freedom & Privacy is now available
• New Wonder Woman, Banned Books Week materials, and more from ALA Graphics
• Access to ALA Editions | ALA Neal-Schuman textbooks during the COVID-19 pandemic
• K-8 libraries invited to apply for $5,000 award recognizing outstanding programming; due May 4
• United for Libraries to present free May 7 webinar on ‘How Foundations and Friends Can Support Their Libraries During COVID-19′; May 7
• Freedom to Read Foundation Launches Webinar Series; next webinar May 12
• ALA seeks proposals for 2020 Diversity Research Grants; due May 15
• LLAMA webinars while you work from home; May 20

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
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