By Paul McDougall
InformationWeek | December 17, 2009

A group that advocates Internet privacy has filed a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission over Facebook’s decision to open more of its members’ information to public view unless they actively take steps to limit their data’s exposure.

“More than 100 million people in the United States subscribe to the Facebook service. The company should not be allowed to turn down the privacy dial on so many American consumers,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, in a statement.

Bay Area Internet Solutions Rotenberg said the changes will make too much user information available to the public, and also to third-party application developers that create games, contests, and other programs for Facebook.

In filing the case, EPIC said it received support from the American Library Association, the Center for Digital Democracy, the Consumer Federation of America, Patient Privacy Rights, and other advocacy groups.

Users’ biggest complaint about the changes is that the default privacy setting on Facebook now opens their status updates to the entire Web, unless they proactively takes steps to modify the settings.

Facebook claimed Wednesday that it’s implementing the changes in an effort to make it easier for members to control who can see which pieces of information they post.

“Facebook is transforming the world’s ability to control its information online by empowering more than 350 million people to personalize the audience for each piece of content they share,” said Facebook communications VP Elliot Schrage, in a statement.

Facebook added a tool that lets users select privacy settings for literally each post they place on the social networking site. Via a new dropdown menu, users can specify whether the post should be made to the general public, all their Facebook friends, or a list of particular friends, family members, or work colleagues.

Facebook also launched a “transition tool” to guide members through the new settings.

Additionally, Facebook is eliminating regional networks—user groups that allow members within a given geographical region to automatically share content with other network members. Facebook operates such networks around the world, including far-flung areas like India and China.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has said the regional networks are becoming too large to ensure members’ privacy.

By Chad Klimack
Advocate Reporter | December 15, 2009

PATASKALA — A handful of residents attended a Pataskala Public Library Board meeting Tuesday night to urge the library to move a book out of the reach of children.
“I would not have allowed my son to have that (library) card if I’d known he had access to that (book),” said Pataskala resident Susan Risner, who has an 18-year-old son.

Risner and five other residents attended the library board’s regular December meeting to raise questions about Eric Marlowe Garrison’s “Mastering Multiple Position Sex,” billed on its back cover as a lovemaking guide.

The board did not address their questions Tuesday, but it intends to formulate responses in the coming weeks.

Pataskala resident Marti Shrigley initially asked the library to move the book off its new book display, but later she asked the library to outright get rid of it.

Library Director Matt Nojonen refused, and on Nov. 16, the library board voted unanimously to maintain the book in the library’s collection. The board did agree to move the book from the new book section to regular non-fiction shelving.

Shrigley did not attend Tuesday’s meeting, but she and her husband, Larry, wrote a letter to the board. In the letter, the couple asked the library to consider placing the book behind the check-out desk or on a high shelf, out of the reach of children.

Larry Shrigley attended the meeting and made the same appeal.

“I’m not concerned with the adults, but I am concerned with the young people,” he said.

Pataskala resident Jeff Coward, who also attended Tuesday’s meeting, suggested the library change its policy for new books.

Marti Shrigley said she discovered the book on the new book display, where children could openly see it. The cover contains semi-nude pictures of adults, and there are instructive illustrations inside.

Coward on Tuesday asked the library to reconsider placing books with graphic content on the new book display.

Kenny Sipe, a youth pastor and young adult director at Jersey Baptist Church, likewise attended Tuesday’s meeting, and Sipe said his church would be willing to donate a book shelf if the library needed one to place the book out of the reach of children.

The board did not comment Tuesday on the various suggestions. Nojonen said it intends to respond to the residents in writing in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, the book will go back in the non-fiction section — after its popularity dies down.

Marti Shrigley checked out the book after finding it on the new book display. After she returned it, another library patron checked it out, and yet another patron has reserved the book, meaning it could be a while before it hits the shelves again.

Nojonen has steadfastly defended the library’s purchase of the book, pointing to Garrison’s credentials as a sexuality and relationship educator. The author has made presentations to hospitals, universities, medical schools and athletic teams.

Likewise, Nojonen has argued the library tries to provide all sorts of information to the community, including information about sexuality. It even has books in its collection that look at sexuality from a Christian perspective.

The Pataskala Public Library is not the only library in the area that has books in its collection that explore sexuality. An online search of various collections revealed several surrounding libraries also have books about sexuality, some with titles like “Super Hot Sex.”

As for the suggestions Tuesday to place the book behind the counter or on a top shelf in the non-fiction section, Nojonen said, “We don’t have any other parts of our collection sequestered that way.”

Still, he did not close the door on the move or another form of compromise.

One thing that does not appear on the horizon is a vote on the book.

Risner on Tuesday suggested the library ask its patrons to vote on keeping the book in its collection.

Several board members responded the library would have hardly any collection if it asked patrons to vote on books. A book one person enjoys reading, another person might not, leading that person to vote against it, they argued.

December 8, 2009 | Graduate School of Library & Info Science UIUC

The West Bend Community Memorial Library in West Bend, Wisconsin, is the recipient of the 2009 Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award given by the faculty of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The faculty voted overwhelmingly to give this year’s award to the West Bend Library for its steadfast advocacy on behalf of intellectual freedom in the face of a library challenge that garnered national attention. The efforts of the library board, Library Director Michael Tyree, the library staff, and many supportive community members are to be commended.

The controversy began in February 2009 when West Bend resident and conservative blogger Ginny Maziarka formally objected to the presence of books with LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning) content in the young adult section of the library. She formed a citizens’ group, West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries, and circulated a petition that called for the library to, among other requests, move “youth-targeted pornographic books into the adult section of the library.”

In response to her objection, a second citizens’ group was formed, West Bend Parents for Free Speech, which was active in supporting the library’s decision not to move or remove any of the titles in question.

The controversy quickly escalated in this town of 30,000 people located outside of Milwaukee. Hundreds of people attended library board meetings and town hall gatherings. In April 2009, four library board members were denied reappointment by the West Bend Common Council for not acting on the petitions to remove the materials. According to Alderman Terry Vrana, who was quoted in the West Bend Daily News, “the appointees were not serving the interests of the community ‘with their ideology.’” At a June 2009 meeting of the library board, a vote was taken and a unanimous decision to maintain the young adult collection without removing, moving, labeling, or restricting in any way, triumphed.

The American Library Association issued a statement in support of the library and against the efforts to control access to library collections. “Fanning the flames of this controversy, opponents of open access in libraries have launched a campaign spreading fear and misinformation. . . By resisting calls to censor potentially controversial materials, [the West Bend Library] promote[s] and protect[s] true education and learning, and uphold[s] the cherished freedoms that we, as Americans, hold most dear.”

Maziarka launched an aggressive campaign and used social media, including her blog, to spread her message. National media outlets such as CNN, ABC News, and Fox News covered the story. In mid-July, the Pew Research Center’s Project on Excellence in Journalism ranked the West End book challenges as among the top five blogged-about topics in the news.

“The West Bend librarians, library board, and library supporters demonstrated the strong and steadfast advocacy on behalf of intellectual freedom that is the focus of the Downs Award. Despite the enormous media attention that the controversy received, they were unwavering in their support of the public library’s responsibility to provide a diverse collection to serve *all* community members,” said Christine Jenkins, GSLIS associate professor and director of the Center for Children’s Books.

A reception to honor the West Bend Library will take place during the midwinter meeting of the American Library Association in the Arlington Room of the Boston Park Plaza Hotel on January 16, 2010, from 5:30–7:00 p.m. The ABC-CLIO publishing company provides the honorarium to the recipient of the Downs Intellectual Freedom Award and also co-sponsors the reception.

The Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award is given annually to acknowledge individuals or groups who have furthered the cause of intellectual freedom, particularly as it affects libraries and information centers and the dissemination of ideas. Granted to those who have resisted censorship or efforts to abridge the freedom of individuals to read or view materials of their choice, the award may be in recognition of a particular action or long-term interest in, and dedication to, the cause of intellectual freedom. The award was established in 1969 by the GSLIS faculty to honor Robert Downs, a champion of intellectual freedom, on his twenty-fifth anniversary as director of the school.

Boston College Law Review Vol. 50:5, November 2009
Symposium Issue:
PUBLICITY, PRIVACY, AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MEET THE FIRST AMENDMENT
This issue of the Boston College Law Review contains articles related to privacy, social networks, the First Amendment, copyright, and more.