The Salt Lake Tribune: “Frustrated by the books being removed from school libraries, a Utah parent says there’s one that hasn’t been challenged yet, but that they believe should be, for being “one of the most sex-ridden books around.”So they’ve submitted a request for their school district in Davis County to now review the Bible… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Censorship
American Library Association reports record number of demands to censor library books and materials in 2022
“The American Library Association (ALA) today released new data documenting 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022, the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago [the 2022 data compiled by ALA represents only a snapshot of book censorship throughout… Continue Reading
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan Issues Sweeping Subpoenas to Universities Studying Misinformation
Pro Publica: “In the subpoenas, Jordan asserted that the schools may have contributed to the Biden administration’s “censorship regime by advising on so-called misinformation. House Republicans have sent letters to at least three universities and a think tank requesting a broad range of documents related to what it says are the institutions’ contributions to the… Continue Reading
The Atlantic: “The Librarians Are Not Okay”
The Librarians Are Not Okay – “…The graduate degree for librarians is not, typically, a master of arts, but a master of science—in library and information sciences. Librarians may adore books, but they are trained in the technical and data-driven work of running libraries. Unlike a privately owned bookstore, where the stock might reflect the… Continue Reading
Freedom in the World 2023
Freedom House – Marking 50 Years in the Struggle for Democracy – Key Findings Global freedom declined for the 17th consecutive year. Moscow’s war of aggression led to devastating human rights atrocities in Ukraine. New coups and other attempts to undermine representative government destabilized Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Peru, and Brazil. Previous years’ coups and ongoing… Continue Reading
Democracy Report 2023
DEMOCRACY REPORT 2023 #Defiance in the Face of #Autocratization. “Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) produces the largest global dataset on #democracy with over 31 million data points for 202 countries from 1789 to 2022. Involving almost 4,000 scholars and other country experts, V-Dem measures hundreds of different attributes of democracy. V-Dem enables new ways to study… Continue Reading
Weapons of control, shields of impunity: Internet shutdowns in 2022
accessnow: “From Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, authorities are imposing internet shutdowns at staggering rates. In 2022 alone, governments and other actors disrupted the internet at least 187 times across 35 countries — breaking our #KeepItOn record for the number of countries to hit the kill switch in a single year. Not only are shutdowns resurging after… Continue Reading
Original Tweets Only: Retweeters Not Liable for Defamation
ABA: “Re-posters of digital content are not liable for statements they did not author. Only the original creators of digital content can be held liable for defamatory statements, not the re-posters of slanderous posts. The court in Banaian v. Bascom held that persons who reshared original content should not be held to the same standard… Continue Reading
EEAS Report on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Threats
1st EEAS Report on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Threats. Towards a framework for networked defence, February 2023. “This first edition of the report on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference threats is informed by the work of the European External Action Service’s (EEAS) Stratcom division 8 in 2022. It is the first of its kind… Continue Reading
I’m a teacher in Florida. Here’s what the DeSantis book bans look like in my classroom
The Guardian: “A new crackdown on books in Florida schools has had a chilling effect in classrooms. “I’m done! I’m done! What do I do now?” Every teacher, in every classroom, hears this many (thousands) of times daily from their students. In my classroom, for more than a decade, the answer has always been “Get… Continue Reading
Hide your books to avoid felony charges, Fla. schools tell teachers
Washington Post – Unsure what titles violate new state rules, two school districts tell educators to conceal every book for now..Students arrived in some Florida public school classrooms this month to find their teachers’ bookshelves wrapped in paper — or entirely barren of books — after district officials launched a review of the texts’ appropriateness… Continue Reading
2022 Corruption Perceptions Index reveals scant progress against corruption as world becomes more violent
Berlin, 31 January 2023: “The 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released today by Transparency International shows that most of the world continues to fail to fight corruption: 95 per cent of countries have made little to no progress since 2017. According to the Global Peace Index, the world continues to become a less peaceful place.… Continue Reading
