“In a new report, Booklash: Literary Freedom, Online Outrage, and the Language of Harm, PEN America warns that social media blowback and societal outrage are imposing new moral litmus tests on books and authors, chilling literary expression and fueling a dangerous trend of self-censorship that is shrinking writers’ creative freedom and imagination. Offering a forceful… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Censorship
Authors Like Me Are Fighting the Book-Ban Zealots. We Need Help.
Mother Jones – Dashka Slater: “…The American Library Association reports that more than 2,500 books were challenged in 2022, a big uptick from the already astonishing 1,858 challenged in 2021, which was already five times the number challenged in 2019. Last year, some 41 percent of challenged books were by or about LGBTQ people, and… Continue Reading
Florida ‘effectively’ bans Advanced Placement Psychology course
“The Florida Department of Education has effectively banned A.P. Psychology in the state,” the College Board said in a statement….The American Psychological Association recently reaffirmed that any course that excludes these topics would violate their guidelines and should not be considered for college credit. The APA has given this direct guidance to organizations that have… Continue Reading
How book-banning campaigns have changed the lives and education of librarians
Via LLRX – How book-banning campaigns have changed the lives and education of librarians – Nicole A. Cooke, Augusta Baker Endowed Chair and a Professor at the School of Library and Information Science, at the University of South Carolina, identifies the significant and socially charged work of librarians who are defending the rights of readers and… Continue Reading
Digital Public Library of America Launches The Banned Book Club to Ensure Access to Banned Books
PR Newswire: “The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) has launched The Banned Book Club to ensure that readers in communities affected by book bans can now access banned books for free via the Palace e-reader app. The Banned Book Club makes e-book versions of banned books available to readers in locations across the United States where… Continue Reading
The 2023 SCOTUS Awards
The New York Times Opinion – “The headlines that emerged from the 2022-23 term of the Supreme Court conveyed the brutal impact of several big decisions, but they sometimes missed the human elements that made these opinions so startling — how the conservative majority favored one oppressed group but not another or imposed conflicting rules… Continue Reading
Why parents are trying to ban so many picture books
Children’s picture books are the next targets for book bans [free link] – The Washington Post – “The Post requested and analyzed roughly 2,500 pages of book challenges filed in more than 100 districts nationwide throughout the 2021-2022 academic year. Picture books made up nearly 10 percent of all the titles challenged in the 1,000-plus… Continue Reading
How Threads’ privacy policy compares to Twitter’s (and its rivals’)
Ars Technica: “Here’s what is collected by Threads, as well as by Twitter, Bluesky, Mastodon, Spill, and Hive Social. Meta’s long-awaited Twitter alternative is here, and it’s called Threads. The new social media app launches at a time when alternatives, like Bluesky, Mastodon, and Spill, are vying for users who are dissatisfied with Elon Musk’s… Continue Reading
How book bans threaten democracy
Vox: “A popular saying is that public libraries are the last bastion of true democracy.At the library, patrons aren’t really expected to pay for anything; they can use the library’s free services, from unlimited wifi to job application support; and, of course, the thousands of books libraries hold are available to anyone. But in recent… Continue Reading
Video Game Law
Lemley, Mark A. and Maitra, Sonali, Video Game Law (June 1, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4466453 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4466453 “This is the complete text of Video Game Law: An Open Access Casebook, the first law school casebook to cover video game law. It includes chapters on the history of video games, copyright, patents, trademarks, the right… Continue Reading
Election Worker Safety and Privacy
CRS Insight – Election Worker Safety and Privacy, June 21, 2023: “Concerns about election workers’ safety and privacy have been reported since the 2020 election, in news reports and testimony before House and Senate committees. Some election workers have raised concerns about their physical safety while performing official duties, as well as threats to their… Continue Reading
Everyone Likes Reading. Why Are We So Afraid of It?
The New York Times: Book bans, chatbots, pedagogical warfare: What it means to read has become a minefield. “Everyone loves reading. In principle, anyway. Nobody is against it, right? Surely, in the midst of our many quarrels, we can agree that people should learn to read, should learn to enjoy it and should do a… Continue Reading
