#privacy and libraries

[libraryprivacy]

Librarians, Act Now to Protect Your Users (Before It’s Too Late)

Books checked out from a library and terms searched on library computers can reveal a teenager’s questions about sexual orientation, a neighbor’s religious leanings, or a student’s political interests. Libraries across the country, particularly public libraries, make it part of their mission to serve the most vulnerable and underserved user groups, including users who are homeless, unemployed, or recent migrants or refugees. And when government agents come looking, these library users need librarians to have their back.

Since the passage of the Patriot Act in particular, librarians have purged user records when necessary to fight against unconstitutional government demands and pushed back against (unconstitutional) National Security Letters (NSLs). Librarians also stood with EFF and the ACLU when we worked to pass the California Reader Privacy Act in 2011.

With the recent election of President-elect Donald Trump, many libraries are rightfully worried about a renewed threat to their users’ privacy. If the incoming administration sticks to its promises to identify and deport millions of people, monitor individuals based on their religious beliefs, and expand libel laws, for example, libraries could receive unprecedented government requests for information on their users.

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[libraryprivacy]

Chalk up another group concerned about privacy and data security issues: libraries and archives. This week, the San Francisco-based Internet Archive announced a drive to raise $5 million to set up a mirror repository of the entire internet and place it in Canada for safety The New York Public Library announced a change this week to its privacy policy, informing users that it would retain less information about their activities. The American Library Association, headquartered in Chicago, embraced that move and encourages others, including telling public libraries to encrypt all communications and lock up stored data to protect it from a prying government.

Libraries and archives fear Feds may press them for more user data | McClatchy DC

[libraryprivacy]

From Indiana University Library 

[libraryprivacy]

Library Privacy Guidelines for Library Websites, OPACs, and Discovery Services

Guidelines from ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom

[libraryprivacy]

Rights to privacy and freedom of expression in public libraries: squaring the circle

McMenemy, D. (2016). Rights to privacy and freedom of expression in public libraries: squaring the circle.

PDF

[libraryprivacy]

Americans’ Attitudes About Privacy, Security and Surveillance

Americans’ views about privacy and surveillance are relevant to policymaking on these matters. Key legal decisions about the legitimacy of surveillance or tracking programs have hinged on the question of whether Americans think it is reasonable in certain situations to assume that they will be under observation, or if they expect that their activities will not be monitored. A federal appeals court recently ruled that a National Security Agency program that collects Americans’ phone records is illegal. In striking down the program, Judge Gerald Lynch wrote: “Such expansive development of government repositories of formerly private records would be an unprecedented contraction of the privacy expectations of all Americans. Perhaps such a contraction is required by national security needs in the face of the dangers of contemporary domestic and international terrorism. But we would expect such a momentous decision to be preceded by substantial debate, and expressed in unmistakable language.”

Two new Pew Research Center surveys explore these issues and place them in the wider context of the tracking and profiling that occurs in commercial arenas. The surveys find that Americans feel privacy is important in their daily lives in a number of essential ways. Yet, they have a pervasive sense that they are under surveillance when in public and very few feel they have a great deal of control over the data that is collected about them and how it is used. Adding to earlier Pew Research reports that have documented low levels of trust in sectors that Americans associate with data collection and monitoring, the new findings show Americans also have exceedingly low levels of confidence in the privacy and security of the records that are maintained by a variety of institutions in the digital age.

Full Report :  Mary Madden, Lee Rainie. Pew Research Center, May 20, “Americans’ Attitudes About Privacy, Security and Surveillance.” PDF 

[libraryprivacy]

Privacy 2.0. Social Media+ Society

Papathanassopoulos, S. (2015). Privacy 2.0. Social Media+ Society, 1(1), 2056305115578141.

[libraryprivacy]

Digital library user privacy: changing librarian viewpoints through education

Noh, Y. (2014). Digital library user privacy: changing librarian viewpoints through education. Library Hi Tech, 32(2), 300-317.