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Category Archives: Intellectual Freedom

A Dissident and a Magazine

Great article in the New York Times, about Claudia Marquez Linares, an independent journalist in Cuba whose husband was one of the dissidents jailed in the spring 2003 crackdown. I know in Libraryland we care so very, very much about censorship and intellectual freedom. I’m intrigued by Umansky’s reference to “De Cuba,” which Umansky calls […]

Californians: You Can Ask for a Paper Ballot

Dan Gillmor is not an alarmist, but on his E-Journal blog, he is cautioning his California readers that they are entitled to ask for a paper ballot. Gillmor ((author of “We the Media,” a great book about citizen journalism) explains he plans to vote with a paper ballot, since Santa Clara County is using an […]

Freedom in the World 2004

It’s still Banned Books Week, and I thought about going to a library and challenging a book, just for the fun of it, but instead I’ll share this report: Freedom in the World 2004, “the definitive report on freedom around the globe.” You know, globe, as in other countries? Some where censorship means you go […]

International PEN calls for release of Cuban prisoners

See: http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/dev/viewArticles.asp?findID_=191 It’s Banned Books Week, and a good time to think about countries where people are sent to jail for decades for owning and sharing books their countries disapprove of. It’s also a good time to remember that some organizations are willing to take strong stands on these issues–on behalf of people who have […]

Filters Do the Darndest Things

Remember all the snake-oil hucksterism filtering companies dished out to librarians in the early days, before the companies turned their persuasive powers to the courts, where lesser minds prevail? Today a school librarian advised me her school can’t access Take Our Girls and Boys to the Polls: 18 Election Activities for You and Your Under […]

Dancing at the COPA-Cabana

http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=15079&c=130 Big news today in the free speech community: “The Supreme Court today struck down the Child Online Protection Act as an unconstitutional government attempt to censor free speech on the Internet. ‘Today’s ruling from the Court demonstrates that there are many less restrictive ways to protect children without sacrificing communication intended for adults,’ the […]

Patriot Act Presentation Updated

I’ve updated the Patriot Act presentation to clarify one point, add Mary Minow’s CLA article on the Patriot Act to the publication timeline, and provide a presentation-friendly background. The talk (held at UCSD) was a lot of fun–shared the podium with Judith Krug and an ACLU rep. What’s this I hear about Tony Randall dying? […]

Patriot Act Presentation

(Note: updated with slightly modified version.) I’m giving a talk about the Patriot Act, and I’m uploading this Powerpoint so I have a place for it in case my flash drive falls out of my pocket on the way to San Diego. This is California-oriented, but if you find it useful, just drop me a […]

Honoring Those Who Serve: Social Justice Versus Censorship

My eight years in the military was (among many other things) a consciousness-raising experience. Persons of color, and people from poor and rural communities, are disproportionately represented in our armed forces. For many of the people with whom I worked, socialized, and lived among, the U.S. military didn’t merely represent one of many choices for […]

Google’s SafeSearch

I was quoted today in “Google’s chastity belt too tight,” a news.com article about Google’s Safesearch by Declan McCullagh: http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5198125.html?tag=nefd.lede As a filtering expert emeritus, it’s fun to come out of my lair once in a while and growl at the moon. Bookmark to: