LFI Course Materials/Week 20: Right to privacy

Week 20: The Right to Privacy

• No real time lecture. Watch last year's Right to Privacy video: https://vimeo.com/281667258

Overview

People in the United States technically have a right to privacy guaranteed in the constitution. In practice, the privacy rights of marginalized people have been historically violated. As Angela Davis said, “​ If they come for me in the morning, they will come for you in the night”, and today in the post-Snowden world, it’s true that we’re all experiencing the loss of our privacy rights. This is of course now doubly true for marginalized people, who are under even more intense surveillance than ever before. This week, we'll watch a previously recorded lecture from ACLU attorney and surveillance law expert Jessie Rossman, who will about our privacy rights and how librarians can enforce them.

Readings

• The ACLU’s resources on internet privacy (read through some of the subtopics, reports, blogs, and so on) https://www.aclu.org/issues/privacy-technology/internet-privacy
• EFF’s take on how librarians should be protecting privacy rights in the library:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/12/librarians-act-now-protect-your-users-its-too-late

• Library records privacy laws by state: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/privacy/statelaws

Guest lecturer

Jessie Rossman, attorney, ACLU of Massachusetts: https://aclum.org/about/staff-advocates/jessie-rossman/

Discussion

• How are your communities affected by the loss of privacy rights?
• How is your library equipped to enforce privacy rights?
• How does your state fare with regard to library privacy law? Does it seem like your local law is sufficient to protect patrons?

Tasks

• Discussion forum, small group work, and group work drafts to Alison by October 4th.