LFI Course Materials

Library Freedom Institute

Library Freedom Institute (LFI) is a privacy-focused six-month program for librarians to teach them the skills necessary to thrive as Privacy Advocates; from educating community members, to installing privacy software, to influencing public policy.

On this page, you'll find materials that we're using for the current cohort. If you're looking for application materials and a timeline for the next cohort, [this is what you want https://libraryfreedomproject.org/lfi/].

General course information and resources

• Code of Conduct
• LFI message board: Most LFI discussion happens here. Anyone can read public posts on the board, but only LFI cohort members can post.
• LFI Github: We'll use this Github repo occasionally when we need to host large size documents.
• Riseup mailing list: a private list that cohort members get subscribed to when LFI begins.
• Zoom video conference room: a private Zoom room that cohort members get the address to when LFI begins.

Week 3: "Surveillance technology in our local communities

• Real time lecture: June 7th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern

Overview

In the last few years, increased attention and scrutiny has been paid to local governments and law enforcement around their use of surveillance technology, thanks to the efforts of movements like Black Lives Matter. What we've learned from this work is that police now have access to an unprecedented amount of new surveillance equipment that is often acquired and used without democratic oversight, and is disproportionately deployed against people of color, immigrants, and political dissidents, often for protected free speech activities. Kade Crockford of the ACLU of Massachusetts will take us through this landscape, detailing how this surveillance technology is funded and used, and how we can create accountability processes to curtail the dystopian aspects of this new tech.

Learning objectives

• What surveillance technologies local governments and law enforcement have and how they fund them
• Who is impacted by the use of these technologies
• How to bring greater transparency and accountability to the use of these technologies

Readings

• The ACLU's Technology 101 primer on what surveillance technologies police are using: https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/tc2-technology101-primer-v02.pdf
• The ACLU's Community Control of Police Surveillance (CCOPS) coalition statement about the necessity of oversight around police technology: https://www.aclu.org/issues/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/community-control-over-police-surveillance?redirect=feature/community-control-over-police-surveillance
• CCOPS guiding principles for democratic oversight: https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/ccops_guiding_principles_-_final.pdf

Guest lecturer

Kade Crockford is the Director of the Technology for Liberty Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts and MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow. Kade works to protect and expand core First and Fourth Amendment rights and civil liberties in the digital 21st century, focusing on how systems of surveillance and control impact not just the society in general but their primary targets—people of color, Muslims, immigrants, and dissidents.

Tasks

• Readings, discussion forum, and small group work
• Submit small group project to Alison