From CNN:
A fight over books depicting sex and homosexuality has riled up a small Wisconsin city, cost some library board members their positions and prompted a call for a public book burning.
The battle has stirred much of West Bend, a city of roughly 30,000 people about 35 miles north of Milwaukee. Residents have sparred for [...]
Archive of posts filed under the Intellectual Freedom category.
Library fight riles up city, leads to book-burning demand
Political Cues in China Web Filter
From the Wall Street Journal:
Web-filtering software that the Chinese government will require on all new personal computers includes data files containing political keywords and Web addresses, suggesting it could block more than just pornography, say people who have studied the program.
A notice sent to PC makers last month said they must include the software with [...]
China defends Web-filtering software requirement
From the Washington Post:
China on Tuesday defended a new requirement that personal computers sold in the country carry a software that filters online content, saying the program is targeted at preventing the spread of pornography and other “unhealthy” content.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology posted on its Web site Tuesday a notice to all [...]
10 Worst Countries to be a Blogger
From the Committee to Protect Journalists:
With a military government that severely restricts Internet access and imprisons people for years for posting critical material, Burma is the worst place in the world to be a blogger, the Committee to Protect Journalists says in a new report. CPJ’s “10 Worst Countries to be a Blogger” also identifies [...]
Free Speech Groups Criticize Dismissal of Wisconsin Library Board Members
From Publishers Weekly:
Four members of a library board in West Bend, Wis., were dismissed last week for refusing to remove controversial books from the library’s young adult section—and yesterday, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the National Coalition Against Censorship, the Association of American Publishers and PEN American Center criticized the firings.
The groups sent [...]
S. Korea acquits blogger of spreading false info
From the Washington Post:
A popular South Korean blogger, who was initially touted as an economic prophet for his dire predictions on the global economy, was cleared Monday of spreading false information in a closely watched case that sparked heated debate over freedom of speech in cyberspace.
Longtime ALA Intellectual Freedom Leader Judith Krug Dies
From Library Journal:
Judith Fingeret Krug, longtime director of American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) and executive director of the Freedom To Read Foundation (FTRF), died April 11 after a year-long fight with stomach cancer. She was 69.
ALA officials said she died at Evanston Hospital in suburban Chicago. Krug was a staunch fighter [...]
Topeka Library Board Restricts Access to Four Books on Sex
From Library Journal:
In a 5-3 vote that contradicted the recommendation of the library director, Gina Millsap, and has drawn warnings of a lawsuit, the board of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library agreed yesterday to restrict minors’ access to four books: Sex for Busy People (LJ review); The Lesbian Kama Sutra; The Joy of [...]
Brewster Kahle, Internet Archive Win 2008 Downs Intellectual Freedom Award
From Library Journal:
For his successful challenge to an FBI National Security Letter (NSL), Brewster Kahle, director and co-founder of the Internet Archive, has been awarded the 2008 Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award by the faculty of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6623245.html?rssid=191
International Arrests of Citizen Bloggers More Than Triple
From the Law Librarian Blog:
The number of citizen bloggers jailed in 2007 has drastically risen from 2006, according to researchers at the University of Washington. “Last year, 2007, was a record year for blogger arrests, with three times as many as in 2006. Egypt, Iran and China are the most dangerous places to blog [...]