September 1, 2017 – Collated by OIF Staff and News Interns

Intellectual Freedom Highlights

• Webinar: Intellectual freedom is not just about censorship! | Wednesday, Sept 13, 2017 @ 5 – 6 pm EDT, presented by Michelle Luhtala and Kristin Pekoll
• Board votes to keep LGBT book in children’s section at suburban library | CBS Chicago (IL); “Members of the West Chicago Library board rejected Monday a request by some parents to remove a book about gay pride from its children’s section (This Day in June).”
• Ugly Beliefs, Free Speech, and Libraries | David Lee King

Censorship

• Pepe the Frog creator gets alt-right kids’ book pulled from sale | Newsweek; “Lawyers acting for Matt Furie, creator of the character, reached a settlement with Eric Hauser, author of The Adventures of Pepe and Pede, barring further sales of the book and compelling Hauser to donate all profits from the title to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an advocacy group for American Muslims”
• The nuclear threat & Arizona’s banned books | VICE News
• Parent upset over controversial book read to 5th graders | Bay News 9 (CA); The Liberation of Gabriel King
• Nook terminating accounts of erotica authors | Publishers Weekly
• ‘A girl brain but a boy body.’ Kindergarten parents outraged over transgender book read in class | Sacramento Bee (CA), I am Jazz
• A brief history of book burning, from the printing press to internet archives | Smithsonian Magazine

Privacy

• Uber to end post-trip tracking of riders as part of privacy push | The New York Times; “Uber Technologies Inc is pulling a heavily criticized feature from its app that allowed it to track riders for up to five minutes after a trip, its security chief told Reuters, as the ride-services company tries to fix its poor reputation for customer privacy.”
• Site sells Instagram users’ phone and e-mail details, $10 a search | Ars Technica
• See this week’s privacy updates on the Choose Privacy Week blog.

Access

• Center for Open Science launches a preprint service for library and information science research | Infodocket
• Alexander Hamilton papers now online | Library of Congress
• Thinking beyond the bin: Why labeling books by reading level disempowers young readers | School Library Journal

Net Neutrality

• ALA tells FCC: the library community needs you to protect net neutrality | District Dispatch
• Net neutrality: After Wednesday’s deadline, what’s next? | Variety
• Why net neutrality matters even in the age of oligopoly | Wired
• Apple’s real reason for finally joining the net neutrality fight | Wired

Academic Freedom/ Campus Speech

• Scientist asked to remove ‘climate change’ from grant blames ‘the ongoing politicization of science’ | The Washington Post
• Faculty members organize to fight ‘fascist’ interlopers on campuses | Chronicle of Higher Education
• U. of North Carolina is the latest to deny event space to white nationalist | Chronicle of Higher Education

First Amendment Issues

• New York Times wins dismissal of Sarah Palin’s defamation lawsuit | Reuters
• DC Circuit tosses antitrust, first amendment claims of third party presidential candidates | Constitutional Law Prof Blog

Hate Speech

• Books defaced with anti-Semitic writing at West St. Paul library | StarTribune (Minn.)
• Oldest white supremacist site shut down after complaint | The New York Times
• Tech companies are cracking down on hate speech | Ars Technica

Around the Web

• Most Americans – especially Millennials – say libraries can help them find reliable trustworthy information | Pew Research Center
• The white face of library leadership | Inside Higher Ed
• Police ID teen suspect in fatal New Mexico library shooting | ABC News
• Author removed from New York Times best-seller list fires back at critics | The Hollywood Reporter
  • Book pulled from New York Times best-seller list over sales ‘inconsistencies’| Time
• Harry Potter and twenty years of controversy | OIF Blog
• Federal investments of $10 million will support library leadership and model library projects | IMLS

International Issues

• The evolution of China’s great firewall: 21 years of censorship | Global Voices
• China is forcing internet companies to end online anonymity | The Verge
• Cambodia shutdown of media outlets: Tax and licensing issue or censorship? | Global Voices
• Privacy a fundamental right, says SC: All you need to know about the issue | Business Standard (India)
  • Affirming privacy, rebuking India’s leaders | The New York Times
• Newfoundland nixes its tax on books | Quill & Quire (Canada)
• British Library to investigate possibility of a ‘single digital presence’ for UK public libraries | England Arts Council

ALA News

• ALA offers support for Clovis-Carver Public Library in wake of shooting
• ALA, library community work to support Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts
• LLAMA Webinar: 21st Century Library Ethics
• Libraries invited to join social media activity this Banned Books Week
• New e-Forum 9/5: Power that is Moral: Cataloging and Ethics | ALCTS; “At ALA Annual in June 2017, Elizabeth Shoemaker and Violet Fox spoke at the CaMMS Forum about “Power That Is Moral: Creating a Cataloging Code of Ethics”. This e-Forum is designed to continue that discussion about creating a document that would help guide ethical cataloging decisions.”

---

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

You can also find us at Facebook, Twitter, and online. Or email us at oif@ala.org