First Amendment Rodeo 11/07-11/21, 2011
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011ALA OIF BLOG
Joyce McIntosh | November 23, 2011
A roundup of intellectual freedom issues in the news.
Archive for November, 2011
American Library Association Defends Occupy Wall Street Library
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011MEDIA BISTRO (Galley Cat)
Jason Boog | November 18, 2011
American Library Association (ALA) president Molly Raphael has voiced support for the Occupy Wall Street library, writing: “The very existence of the People’s Library demonstrates that libraries are an organic part of all communities.”
Below, we’ve reprinted her entire statement. In addition, Common Cause president Bob Edgar urged the city to help the library: “To the extent that the books lost can be accounted for, the city should replace each title, buying two new copies for each one destroyed … And for whatever number is unaccounted for, the city should provide Occupy’s librarians with funds sufficient to buy twice as many.”
After being evicted twice from Zuccotti Park this week, the People’s Library librarians took the books around the city in carts.
ALA President Molly Raphael’s Statement on the Occupy Wall Street Library…
View entire article including Raphael’s statement
Big Brother Surveillance: Getting Bigger
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011ACS BLOG (American Constitution Society)
Margaret Hu | November 10, 2011
When it comes to surveillance, size matters. In U.S. v. Jones, the GPS tracking case, the Supreme Court just might agree.On November 8, the Court heard arguments on whether the police violated the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures when it continued to monitor Mr. Jones’ car with a GPS device after the warrant expired. During oral argument, what seemed clear to the Justices is that cyber-surveillance today is not your grandma’s apple pie surveillance. With new technologies, the Justices seem to be wondering whether being watched 24/7 may one day be as common as, well, apple pie.
Ontario school board rejects book ban
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011CNEWS
Bill Henry | November 17, 2011
An award-winning Canadian novel one parent wanted removed from classrooms for what she called exploitive sexual references will stay on an Ontario school board’s list of approved books.
Carolyn Waddell, a parent from Tiverton, Ont., wanted the Bluewater public school board to ban Timothy Findlay’s The Wars, which won the Governor General’s Award for fiction in 1977.
