Join the Privacy Revolution at Annual Conference

Angela Maycock General Interest, Intellectual Freedom Committee, Midwinter Meeting/Annual Conference, Privacy, Uncategorized

In our era of social networks, online databases, and cloud computing, more and more individuals’ personal information is available online and elsewhere. Personal privacy has emerged as one of the most pressing concerns in libraries and beyond. ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom invites you to take up these issues and join with us as we kick off our year long National Conversation on Privacy, an initiative that will culminate in Choose Privacy Week, May 2 — 8, 2010.

This civic engagement campaign calls upon libraries and librarians to stand up as leaders and educators in communities all across the country — calling attention to the value of privacy as the foundation for civil liberties and highlighting growing threats to our privacy rights.

At ALA’s Annual Conference, OIF and the Washington Office invite you to attend an exciting program on these issues. “Privacy in an Era of Change: Privacy and Surveillance Under the New Administration” will feature Mary Ellen Callahan, Chief Privacy Officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; David Sobel, Senior Counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation; and Jeff Jarvis, author of What Would Google Do? (HarperCollins, 2009).**  The panel will discuss various aspects of privacy, from civil liberties and consumer protection to social networking and security. Please join us on Monday, July 13 from 10:30 a.m. — 12:00 p.m. in Room 474, McCormick Place!

**Update: 7/11/09 – Jeff Jarvis will be unable to join us.  In his place will be Craig Wacker, program office for the Digital Media & Learning initiative of the MacArthur Foundation.  Thanks to Craig for filling in on such short notice!

Learn more about privacy and the privacy revolution at these other ALA Annual programs:

  • The Secret Life of Our Data: Privacy in the Digital Age (RUSA STARS), Saturday, July 11, 1:30 p.m. — 3:30 p.m., McCormick Place, Room 474
  • Who Cares About Privacy? Boundaries, Millennials and the MySpace Mindset (RUSA MARS), Sunday, July 12, 10:30 a.m. — 12:00 p.m., Sheraton Ballroom II/III
  • Libraries and Mobile Devices: Public Policy Considerations (OITP), Sunday, July 12, 1:30 — 3:00 p.m., McCormick Place, Room 192a

Learn how you can join ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom in rallying Americans to choose privacy — protecting the freedom to read, search, and learn in a digital age. Please visit www.privacyrevolution.org to get involved and provide your input as we kick off the conversation! For more information, contact Angela Maycock, Assistant Director, Office for Intellectual Freedom, at amaycock@ala.org.

privacyrevolutiondotorg