LibWorm.com provides a librarian RSS filtering service. Over 1500 RSS librarian sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest headlines from journals and sites in the Censorship interest group. http://www.libworm.com/rss/librarianqueries.php Fri, 05 Aug 2011 02:54:51 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/026120.html Peter Eckersley: "At the beginning of this year EFF identified a dozen important trends in law, technology and business that... (Source: beSpacific) Thu, 30 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 895758 http://www.teleread.com/paul-biba/question-of-the-year-does-amazon-have-too-much-power/ Amazon is probably the largest bookseller, dollar-wise, in America and the world. Certainly, it is the largest ebook seller in America. And Amazon has spread its tentacles so that it is not only a bookseller, but it competes with publishers as a publisher. Amazon has positioned itself so that, with the exception of the big publishing houses like Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and Random House, authors and publishers believe their books must be available for sale on Amazon or they will never make it. I have yet to hear of anyone cry, for example, that the failure of Barnes & Noble or Sony ebookstores to carry their ebook is a crisis. But we do hear and feel that panic when it comes to Amazon. The result of this concentration of power is that Amazon is given the opportunity to censor. I grant that Amazon is free to decide what products it wants to sell or not sell; after all, it is not a governmental agency that must be neutral in the marketplace. But saying that begs the question because by agreeing with that proposition (i.e., Amazon is free to sell or not sell a particular book or genre of books), we are also saying that Amazon is free to dictate what an author writes, a publisher publishes, and a reader reads — at least if you are an author or publisher who believes that not being sold by Amazon is tantamount to writing death or a consumer who believes that the only place to buy a book is from Amazon. Amazon’s Kindle has changed the worlds of reading, writing, and publishing. Although the change has been largely for the good — more books are being sold (and hopefully read) — there is also a dark side to the Kindle world. The dark side begins with a proprietary format that is designed to lock the average consumer into buying books only at Amazon. ... Wed, 29 Dec 2010 15:34:19 +0100 895512 http://micheladrien.blogspot.com/2010/12/ontario-publishes-advisory-panel-report.html The Ontario government this week made public the final report of an advisory panel on SLAPP suits (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation).SLAPP suits typically take the form of abusive defamation lawsuits aimed at shutting down criticism by non-governmental organizations or citizen lobby groups. Targets of SLAPPs in various parts of North America have been local residents, neighbourhood associations, municipal governments, and peaceful protesters, who have been sued for reporting bylaw violations, speaking at municipal meetings or even for picketing and circulating petitions.The panel recommends that Ontario adopt anti-SLAPP legislation to protect the freedom of thepublic to participate in matters of public interest:"[19] Advocates of legislation who made submissions to the Panel tended to agree onits main characteristics:• It should provide a speedy and cheap method to stop lawsuits if those suits were brought for an improper purpose, namely to harass or intimidate the defendants;• It should put the onus on plaintiffs to prove that their lawsuits were not improper;• It should help rebalance an inequality of financial resources between the parties, possibly by an order that the plaintiff should pay the defendants’ costs at the outset of the litigation;• It should provide stronger legal protection for citizens engaged in public participation, such as through special defences;• It should deter people from bringing such suits in the first place, by exposing plaintiffs, and possibly their directors and officers, and lawyers, to awards of damages or even punitive damages.• Its principles should apply to the actions of administrative tribunals as well as to lawsuits in court. ... Wed, 22 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 894518 http://www.lisnews.org/apple_drops_wikileaks_app_app_store Apple became the latest company to step back from WikiLeaks when they removed an unofficial WikiLeaks app from the App Store. According to TechCrunch, Apple approved the app earlier this month and added it to the store. The WikiLeaks app cost $1.99 and allowed you to simply view the content of WikiLeaks. (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:26:14 +0100 894883 http://lisnews.org/apple_drops_wikileaks_app_app_store Apple became the latest company to step back from WikiLeaks when they removed an unofficial WikiLeaks app from the App Store. According to TechCrunch, Apple approved the app earlier this month and added it to the store. The WikiLeaks app cost $1.99 and allowed you to simply view the content of WikiLeaks. (Source: LISNews.org) Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:26:14 +0100 894222 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/dec/20/john-wyndham-unread-bestseller Perennially popular, his science fiction is a great deal more nuanced than generally recognisedOne of the drawbacks of being a bestselling author is that no one reads you properly. Sure they read you, but do they really read you? I've been thinking about this because Nicola Swords and I have just made a documentary for Radio 4 about John Wyndham. Wyndham is probably the most successful British science fiction writer after HG Wells, and his books have never been out of print. He continues to haunt the public imagination – either through adaptations of his own work (last Christmas gave us a new Day of the Triffids on the BBC) or through thinly disguised homages (witness the opening of Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, which almost exactly resembles the first chapters of The Day of the Triffids, and is in its turn parodied in the opening of Shaun of the Dead). But because his books are so familiar, maybe we don't look too closely at them.I read a lot of Wyndham when I was a teenager. Then, a few years ago, when I was looking around for books to adapt as a Radio 4 "classic serial", I thought of The Midwich Cuckoos. Rereading it, I was startled to find a searching novel of moral ambiguities where once I'd seen only an inventive but simple SF thriller. If you don't know the story, the village of Midwich is visited by aliens who put the whole place to sleep for 24 hours and depart; some weeks later all the women of childbearing age find they are pregnant, and give birth to golden-eyed telepathic children whose powers are soon turned against the village and the world.What I didn't see first time around are the awkward questions the book poses about its own story. While the narrator, Richard Gayford, is very clear that the children are a simple threat and must be destroyed, the novel isn't so sure. Put another way, I think Wyndham has deliberately created a fallible narrator, who often doesn't understand the story he's telling. ... Mon, 20 Dec 2010 16:12:31 +0100 894014 http://www.lisnews.org/amazon_deletes_items_kindles_again It's like 1984 all over again. From ArsTechnica: Amazon may be in the process of stirring up some more trouble for itself thanks to reports that the company is deleting certain kinds of erotica from both the online store and users' devices. The erotica in question is controversial: it talks about certain acts of incest. Judging from Amazon's most recent bouts with book "censorship," users who have already paid for the deleted content are likely to get fired up. The article goes on to say how one customer who complained about how their content that they paid for disappeared from their Kindle received only chastising remarks from Amazon about the severity of the item they purchased. Meanwhile, the Strict Leather Forced Orgasm Belt remains on the virtual shelves of online retailer. (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Sun, 19 Dec 2010 23:46:33 +0100 894890 http://lisnews.org/amazon_deletes_items_kindles_again It's like 1984 all over again. From ArsTechnica: Amazon may be in the process of stirring up some more trouble for itself thanks to reports that the company is deleting certain kinds of erotica from both the online store and users' devices. The erotica in question is controversial: it talks about certain acts of incest. Judging from Amazon's most recent bouts with book "censorship," users who have already paid for the deleted content are likely to get fired up. The article goes on to say how one customer who complained about how their content that they paid for disappeared from their Kindle received only chastising remarks from Amazon about the severity of the item they purchased. Meanwhile, the Strict Leather Forced Orgasm Belt remains on the virtual shelves of online retailer. (Source: LISNews.org) Sun, 19 Dec 2010 23:46:33 +0100 893874 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/19/robert-mccrum-writers-in-prison The latest issue of Index on Censorship highlights the global plight of writers imprisoned for their viewsThere's an apocryphal story about Picasso, who was asked to subscribe to a fund for getting Soviet writers out of prison, but refused. They write better in prison, said Picasso. Oddly enough, in the more recent case of Jeffrey Archer, he would have been right.Leaving aside Lord Archer and the Russians for a moment, when you come to examine Britain's library of prison books, the pickings are surprisingly slim. In the English tradition, I think there are just three manuscripts directly attributable to the clink: John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Oscar Wilde's De Profundis (and "The Ballad of Reading Gaol"), and Money in the Bank by PG Wodehouse, written during his internment in Nazi Germany.Still, from Shakespeare to Byron, self-expression always came with some fear of reprisal, and the list of English writers whose work has been shaped, however slightly, by the prison cell includes Thomas More, Walter Raleigh, Daniel Defoe and Charles Dickens. Arguably, his father's tenure of the Marshalsea (a debtors' prison) was, as much as the celebrated "blacking factory", the novelist's defining experience.Further afield, in the English-speaking world there were the injustices of the Raj and, later, of apartheid. From South Africa, Breyten Breytenbach's masterpiece, True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist, owes everything to his imprisonment, which takes us back to Picasso's provocative contention.But here in Britain, for the last 100 years, our literature has been unrestricted. Some homosexual writers might dispute that, but most writers have enjoyed real freedom. What's more, most British readers would say they live in a free society.Sadly, this has not been the experience of writers, or readers, worldwide. ... Sun, 19 Dec 2010 00:05:20 +0100 893719 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/18/john-milton-biography-review The definitive biography of our second-greatest poetYou will, of course, remember the massive national celebrations of Milton's 400th birthday at the end of 2008 – the speeches from a grateful parliament, the prayers of thanks from the Protestant pulpits, and the BBC's epic, CGI-rich adaptation of Paradise Lost, our rich literature's greatest single poem.Oh, wait . . . that was in an alternative universe, one in which Milton is appreciated. I remember once noticing a sign to Milton's home in Chalfont St Giles and, on a whim, went to see it. I was, depressingly, the only visitor.I wonder why this should be the case. There is, of course, the matter of Milton's defence of regicide – nothing wrong in killing a tyrant, he said. I suppose there is also something intimidating about the work, its sheer scale; some people have suggested that this was why Paradise Lost escaped the censorship to which manuscripts were so severely subject at the time. The authors here suggest that different standards applied to creative writers.And is there some lingering distaste for anti-Catholicism? Although apparently even today the Vatican fears that it wouldn't take much for the British to rise up and murder Catholics in their beds, we are a long way from playing football with the decapitated head of a fugitive RC priest, as happened in Dorchester in 1642. That incident doesn't make it here, but the authors remind us of Milton's scorn for popery: "Embryos and idiots, eremites and friars . . . Cowls, hoods and habits with their wearers tossed / And fluttered into rags, then relics, beads, / Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls, the sport of winds . . ." Thus are the trappings of idolatry blown away by the wind of heaven, and Milton's scorn.This biography – which was originally published to celebrate Milton's anniversary – takes us right back to Milton's times. ... Sat, 18 Dec 2010 00:07:10 +0100 893560 http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/dec/16/google-tool-english-cultural-trends Harvard and Google say they have developed a way to identify cultural trends over the past 200 years using a database of 5m digitised booksHow many words in the English language never make it into dictionaries? How has the nature of fame changed in the past 200 years? How do scientists and actors compare in their impact on popular culture?These are just some of the questions that researchers and members of the public can now answer using a new online tool developed by Google with the help of scientists at Harvard University. The massive searchable database is being hailed as the key to a new era of research in the humanities, linguistics and social sciences that has been dubbed "culturomics".The database comprises more than 5m books – both fiction and non-fiction – published between 1800 and 2000, representing around 4% of all the books ever printed. Dr Jean-Baptiste Michel and Dr Erez Lieberman Aiden of Harvard University have developed the search tool, which they say will give researchers the ability to quantify a huge range of cultural trends in history."Interest in computational approaches to the humanities and social sciences dates back to the 1950s," said Michel, a psychologist in Harvard's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics. "But attempts to introduce quantitative methods into the study of culture have been hampered by the lack of suitable data. We now have a massive dataset, available through an interface that is user-friendly and freely available to anyone."In their initial analysis of the database, the team found that around 8,500 new words enter the English language every year and the lexicon grew by 70% between 1950 and 2000. But most of these words do not appear in dictionaries. ... Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:00:29 +0100 893220 http://yourlibrarycsu.blogspot.com/2010/12/censorship-and-social-networking-how.html Is it possible to censor social networks countrywide? While China have been moderately successful, there have always been ways of getting around the firewalls or finding a proxy server. Additionally this has come at a great cost to China financially.This question of censorship is currently being grappled with by Chavez, president of Venezuela. The country currently has access to social network sites and actively uses them. In fact, the country has one of the highest number of Twitter subscribers in the world. Even if Chavez is successful in getting censorship imposed, the people have already experienced a shift in cultural and psychological values; as a result of the exposure to social media technology. This means that it will be more difficult to prevent people from using something that has become ingrained in everyday life.To read more about this click hereThe bill proposed could potentially grant Chavez with the chance to silence oppositional messages and tweets. During his 12 years in power, Chavez has been granted temporary decree powers three times by lawmakers. More information on Chavez's presidency can be found here (Source: Your Library@CSU) Thu, 16 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 893602 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/m6j4m_6EcLM/find-out-whats-in-word-or-five-with.html Scholars interested in topics such as philosophy, religion, politics, art and language have employed qualitative approaches such as literary and critical analysis with great success. As more of the world’s literature becomes available online, it’s increasingly possible to apply quantitative methods to complement that research. So today Will Brockman and I are happy to announce a new visualization tool called the Google Books Ngram Viewer, available on Google Labs. We’re also making the datasets backing the Ngram Viewer, produced by Matthew Gray and intern Yuan K. Shen, freely downloadable so that scholars will be able to create replicable experiments in the style of traditional scientific discovery.Comparing instances of [flute], [guitar], [drum] and [trumpet] (blue, red, yellow and green respectively) in English literature from 1750 to 2008Since 2004, Google has digitized more than 15 million books worldwide. The datasets we’re making available today to further humanities research are based on a subset of that corpus, weighing in at 500 billion words from 5.2 million books in Chinese, English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish. The datasets contain phrases of up to five words with counts of how often they occurred in each year.These datasets were the basis of a research project led by Harvard University's Jean-Baptiste Michel and Erez Lieberman Aiden published today in Science and coauthored by several Googlers. Their work provides several examples of how quantitative methods can provide insights into topics as diverse as the spread of innovations, the effects of youth and profession on fame, and trends in censorship.The Ngram Viewer lets you graph and compare phrases from these datasets over time, showing how their usage has waxed and waned over the years. ... Thu, 16 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 893480 http://www.lisnews.org/ten_stories_shaped_2010 It's time again to take a look at the memorable headlines of the year. 10. YouTube Sensations Although viral videos are nothing new, libraries found themselves involved in a few catchy clips this year, and even got Old Spice guy involved in their cause. 9. Libraries and DVDs and Netflix, Oh My Libraries check out a lot of movies, in case you haven't heard. A library touting their use of Netflix, however, ran afoul of many due to the admitted violation of Netflix's terms of use. 8. Piracy Crackdown Many Chicken Little essays cropped up over the seizure of domains by Homeland Security, questioning the due process involved and decrying the potential for censorship that the new law affords. 7. Under New Management The corporate takeover of public libraries and the commercialization of academic libraries should have us all thinking about our workplace of the future. 6. Gizmo of the Year: iPad Since its spring release, Apple's life-changing tablet has been put to use by many libraries. How is your library using iPads? 5. I For One Welcome Our New Media Overlords My how times have changed. Gone are the days of video stores and print magazines, right? 4. Web 2.0 Fatigue Oops, I forgot, it's called "emerging technologies" now. With all the information overload surrounding social media and who knows what else that's on the horizon, many of us may feel sympathetic with this take on the next big thing. 3. Sign of the Times: Libraries = Offices for Unemployed Hardly a news flash, but as library budgets continue to spiral while others question the need for libraries at all, library use during the recession has filled a need for those seeking employment. 2. Google eBookstore Opens The advertising company that organizes so much of the world's information is, gasp, actually going to try and make money by selling it. The Google eBookstore launched this month. ... Wed, 15 Dec 2010 22:26:03 +0100 893515 http://lisnews.org/ten_stories_shaped_2010 It's time again to take a look at the memorable headlines of the year. 10. YouTube Sensations Although viral videos are nothing new, libraries found themselves involved in a few catchy clips this year, and even got Old Spice guy involved in their cause. 9. Libraries and DVDs and Netflix, Oh My Libraries check out a lot of movies, in case you haven't heard. A library touting their use of Netflix, however, ran afoul of many due to the admitted violation of Netflix's terms of use. 8. Piracy Crackdown Many Chicken Little essays cropped up over the seizure of domains by Homeland Security, questioning the due process involved and decrying the potential for censorship that the new law affords. 7. Under New Management The corporate takeover of public libraries and the commercialization of academic libraries should have us all thinking about our workplace of the future. 6. Gizmo of the Year: iPad Since its spring release, Apple's life-changing tablet has been put to use by many libraries. How is your library using iPads? 5. I For One Welcome Our New Media Overlords My how times have changed. Gone are the days of video stores and print magazines, right? 4. Web 2.0 Fatigue Oops, I forgot, it's called "emerging technologies" now. With all the information overload surrounding social media and who knows what else that's on the horizon, many of us may feel sympathetic with this take on the next big thing. 3. Sign of the Times: Libraries = Offices for Unemployed Hardly a news flash, but as library budgets continue to spiral while others question the need for libraries at all, library use during the recession has filled a need for those seeking employment. 2. Google eBookstore Opens The advertising company that organizes so much of the world's information is, gasp, actually going to try and make money by selling it. The Google eBookstore launched this month. ... Wed, 15 Dec 2010 22:26:03 +0100 892952 http://www.lisnews.org/fighting_censorship_school_libraries From SLJ: The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) recently recognized author Lauren Myracle, school librarian Dee Ann Venuto, and 19-year-old college student Jordan Allen for fighting against censorship in schools. NCAC's annual "Celebration of Free Speech and Its Defenders" ceremony in New York City brought together more than 150 authors, publishers, and First Amendment advocates to celebrate the work of the 36-year-old organization. Venuto, a media specialist at the Rancocoas Valley High School in Mount Holly, NJ, was honored for her efforts to keep a list of gay-themed books on her library shelves. The titles Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology (Alyson, 2000) edited by Amy Sonnie. Venuto followed her district's materials review policy, which outlines the steps that must be taken when library materials or other instructional material are questioned, when a local grassroots organization called the 9/12 Group challenged the books, drawing media attention. Venuto says she's grateful to NCAC for spreading the word about the challenge and for the professional and personal support they gave her. (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Wed, 15 Dec 2010 19:18:07 +0100 893517 http://lisnews.org/fighting_censorship_school_libraries From SLJ: The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) recently recognized author Lauren Myracle, school librarian Dee Ann Venuto, and 19-year-old college student Jordan Allen for fighting against censorship in schools. NCAC's annual "Celebration of Free Speech and Its Defenders" ceremony in New York City brought together more than 150 authors, publishers, and First Amendment advocates to celebrate the work of the 36-year-old organization. Venuto, a media specialist at the Rancocoas Valley High School in Mount Holly, NJ, was honored for her efforts to keep a list of gay-themed books on her library shelves. The titles Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology (Alyson, 2000) edited by Amy Sonnie. Venuto followed her district's materials review policy, which outlines the steps that must be taken when library materials or other instructional material are questioned, when a local grassroots organization called the 9/12 Group challenged the books, drawing media attention. Venuto says she's grateful to NCAC for spreading the word about the challenge and for the professional and personal support they gave her. (Source: LISNews.org) Wed, 15 Dec 2010 19:18:07 +0100 892954 http://www.lisnews.org/nh_parents_object_book_calls_jesus_vagrant A New Hampshire couple is asking a school board to remove a book that refers to Jesus Christ as a "wine-guzzling vagrant" and let a committee of parents rate all other books taught in their son's high school. The 2001 book is called "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" It documents author Barbara Ehrenreich's attempts to live on minimum wage. Dennis and Aimee Taylor have complained to Bedford High School officials about the book and have removed their son from the school at his request. They also object to obscenities in the book. On Monday, they accused officials of either being careless in choosing books or intentionally pushing the author's views. School board members took no action because they're waiting to hear from the district's curriculum committee. Full article here (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Tue, 14 Dec 2010 05:52:27 +0100 893526 http://lisnews.org/nh_parents_object_book_calls_jesus_vagrant A New Hampshire couple is asking a school board to remove a book that refers to Jesus Christ as a "wine-guzzling vagrant" and let a committee of parents rate all other books taught in their son's high school. The 2001 book is called "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" It documents author Barbara Ehrenreich's attempts to live on minimum wage. Dennis and Aimee Taylor have complained to Bedford High School officials about the book and have removed their son from the school at his request. They also object to obscenities in the book. On Monday, they accused officials of either being careless in choosing books or intentionally pushing the author's views. School board members took no action because they're waiting to hear from the district's curriculum committee. Full article here (Source: LISNews.org) Tue, 14 Dec 2010 05:52:27 +0100 892562 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/13/dorothy-knowles-obituary Academic, writer, French scholar and fencing championDorothy Knowles (known to her friends as Diana), who has died aged 104, enjoyed a long and distinguished academic career and great success as a pioneering fencing champion. From 1934 until 1967, she lectured in the French department at Liverpool University, and then, as honorary research fellow, taught and supervised postgraduates at Bedford College, London University, and later at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College.Her first two published works were La Réaction Idéaliste au Théâtre Depuis 1890 (1934) and The Censor, the Drama and the Film (1934). These were followed much later by French Drama of the Inter-War Years 1918-39 (1967), still essential reading for students. Passionate about theatre as a living, evolving art, she was a celebrated expert on the French theatre of the absurd and was a valued guest speaker in universities all over Britain, delivering her lectures with great flair and melodrama.A typical coup de théâtre occurred at a French studies conference on Holocaust literature in the early 1990s when, at the end of her contribution, she produced and flourished a huge Nazi flag which she had acquired at Dachau concentration camp. (Typically, she had gone to Germany to "see for herself" immediately after the second world war.)As her teaching years drew to a close and she spent more time in France, she discovered the work of Armand Gatti, the leftwing playwright. Her detailed and insightful study of his life and oeuvre, Armand Gatti in the Theatre (1989), was the first major assessment of his work in English, and in her 80s Diana assisted with rehearsals of his revolutionary productions throughout France.Diana was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, where her Yorkshire-born father was a mining engineer. She arrived in Britain in 1912 and was educated at the Notre Dame convent in Leeds. ... Mon, 13 Dec 2010 18:26:57 +0100 892436 http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/amazon-removes-incest-related-erotica-titles-from-store-kindle-archive/ A discussion thread on Amazon’s Kindle Community forum notes that Amazon has begun removing some previously-published books or stories from its store, and from the Kindle archives. Readers who have previously downloaded them to their Kindles can keep them there, but cannot re-download them (and will be refunded the price of purchase assuming Amazon can still find the purchase record). The story whose removal sparked the discussion was an erotica title called Wicked Lovely by author Jess C. Scott. The tale dealt with incest, and involved a love scene between a 17- and an 18-year-old. However, Amazon would not tell Scott specifically what caused the removal of her novel. The only response she has received, after repeatedly trying to contact Amazon for more information, is a form letter: Dear Publisher, As stated in our content guidelines, we reserve the right to determine what content we consider to be appropriate. This content includes both the cover art image and the content within the book. Best regards, Amazon Customer Service http://www.amazon.com Further down the thread, author Selena Kitt notes that Jess is not the only author to have had works removed. Incest books (and they seem to be currently targeting incest – whether characters are eighteen or not in the book in question – all of my characters are eighteen or older and there is an explicit warning at the beginning of each book making that clear) are being pulled from Amazon as we speak. I’ve had three removed. Esmerelda Greene has had at least one pulled. There are several others that have disappeared as well. A number of participants in the discussion compare this to the pedophilia how-to guide removal of last month, in which Amazon first said it would not be removing a book due to its commitment to principles of free speech—and then abruptly yanked it after all a couple of hours later. ... Mon, 13 Dec 2010 01:06:07 +0100 892335 http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/6502 What's being discussed...take your pick or browse below.* John Palfrey hits the radio to talk about controversial site RateBU.com * Alum Derek Bambauer discusses the USICE's seizure of 82 domains. * Jonathan Zittrain evaluates the latest developments for net neutrality. * The OpenNet Initiative looks at Net censorship in Syria.Special Section: This Week on WikiLeaks * Clay Shirky envisions what a post-WikiLeaks future looks like.* Jonathan Zittrain and Molly Sauter provide an A-Z of WikiLeaks.* Dan Gillmor argues a defense of WikiLeaks.* David Weinberger explains why he stands with the Net.* The OpenNet Initiative analyzes Twitter's trending topics vis-a-vis #WikiLeaks.* Radio Berkman 171: WikiLeaks and the Information Wars.* Weekly Global Voices: "Special Coverage: WikiLeaks and the World 2010"Special announcement: The Berkman Center is currently accepting applications for 2011-2012 fellowships through our annual open call.  The application deadline is 11:59 p.m. ET on December 15, 2010.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *The full buzz."The site has generated a lot of controversy, too, as well as some legal questions. WBUR’s Deborah Becker spoke with Internet law expert John Palfrey about the legal implications of this site on Thursday’s Morning Edition." From WBUR.org, "Expert: Controversial BU Site Governed More by Contract Between Entities" "Every country in the world believes that some material on the Net qualifies inherently for censorship. It’s obvious! In this respect, we’re no different from China. So, we should give up pretensions of American exceptionalism for information controls – for us, it’s IP; for Saudi Arabia, it’s porn; for France, it’s hate speech. Only the quality of the legal process differentiates censors. ... Fri, 10 Dec 2010 20:53:40 +0100 891954 http://www.lisnews.org/amazon_selling_kindle_version_wikileaks Among its many services, Amazon.com offers hosting for websites in the form of data storage. When Wikileaks dumped a massive cache of diplomatic cables onto the Internet, it didn't take long for some technologically minded people to find out that Amazon had been hosting Wikileaks' data and content for quite some time. Yet, after the blow up over the cables, Amazon tossed Wikileaks from their servers, siting violations of their terms of service. So make of this what you will, but Amazon UK is selling a Kindle version of the Wikileaks data. You can also have a look at the customer comments. (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Thu, 09 Dec 2010 13:15:26 +0100 891836 http://lisnews.org/amazon_selling_kindle_version_wikileaks Among its many services, Amazon.com offers hosting for websites in the form of data storage. When Wikileaks dumped a massive cache of diplomatic cables onto the Internet, it didn't take long for some technologically minded people to find out that Amazon had been hosting Wikileaks' data and content for quite some time. Yet, after the blow up over the cables, Amazon tossed Wikileaks from their servers, siting violations of their terms of service. So make of this what you will, but Amazon UK is selling a Kindle version of the Wikileaks data. You can also have a look at the customer comments. (Source: LISNews.org) Thu, 09 Dec 2010 13:15:26 +0100 891473 http://www.teleread.com/paul-biba/smashwords-author-brian-s-pratt-to-earn-over-100000-in-2011/ At first glance, Brian S. Pratt of Boswell, Oklahoma doesn’t fit the stereotypical profile of a best-selling author. Yet he, and others Smashwords authors like him, represent the future of publishing. Pratt began publishing with Smashwords in early 2009. His first quarterly royalty payment was $7.82. While most authors would find that number discouraging, Pratt was encouraged. It was a start. In the quarters since, Pratt’s earnings have grown, and in recent quarters he’s become a veritable breakout success. Last quarter, he earned over $18,000 from sales across the Smashwords retail distribution network. This quarter, with three weeks to go, he’s on track to break $25,000. He’s on track to earn over $100,000 in 2011 at Smashwords, and up to $200,000 total when he includes his projected Amazon sales. Not one to count his eggs before they’re hatched, though, he’s fast at work on a next series. The road to here was anything but easy. At age 43, he’s held a number of eclectic jobs, ranging from an U.S. Air Force avionics technician to a taxi driver. Until recently, as he shares in the interview below, he was living below poverty level. He writes fast-paced, can’t-put-it-down fantasy. Pratt started writing because the series authors he enjoyed reading weren’t completing their series fast enough. So he started writing books he’d like to read. Unlike some ebook series writers who carve up books into short serialized chunks, Pratt’s books are full-length, with most clocking in around 150,000 words. His writing style is completely his own, and any New York editor would surely bristle at the rules Brian breaks. His most popular series, The Morcyth Saga, is written in the present tense (though he changed to past tense for subsequent series). ... Thu, 09 Dec 2010 13:10:33 +0100 891491 http://librarychronicles.blogspot.com/2010_12_01_archive.html#8137476839981349291 It's been coming for a while but this Wikileaks saga is hurrying the heavily censored and closed internet out into the world beyond just China. In a few years it will basically just be another conduit for TV shows.Adding: Yes, Twitter restored the account. The point, though, is look how easy it is to squish people if you want to. (Source: Library Chronicles) Thu, 09 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 892017 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LawLibrarianBlog/~3/NNrR02Nkr84/in-re-wikileaks-s-4004-shield-act-goes-after-wikileaks-eff-calls-for-standing-up-against-internet-ce.html Excerpts from EFF's Call to Action by Shari Steele, Join EFF in Standing up Against Internet Censorship: The debate about the wisdom of releasing secret government documents has turned into a massive attack on the right of intermediaries to publish... (Source: Law Librarian Blog) Thu, 09 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 891804 http://www.lisnews.org/congressional_research_service_library_congress_and_wikileaks The Congressional Research Service is seeking guidance on the use of information revealed by Wikileaks. CRS researchers can use all the resources of one of the world's greatest libraries, BUT they are prohibited from using a website that's easily accessible to the average fifth-grader. Does this impede their mission to provide accurate and reliable reports to Congress? http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2010/12/crs_guidance.html/comment-page-1#comment-23738 (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Thu, 09 Dec 2010 02:55:23 +0100 891837 http://lisnews.org/congressional_research_service_library_congress_and_wikileaks The Congressional Research Service is seeking guidance on the use of information revealed by Wikileaks. CRS researchers can use all the resources of one of the world's greatest libraries, BUT they are prohibited from using a website that's easily accessible to the average fifth-grader. Does this impede their mission to provide accurate and reliable reports to Congress? http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2010/12/crs_guidance.html/comment-page-1#comment-23738 (Source: LISNews.org) Thu, 09 Dec 2010 02:55:23 +0100 891474 http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=2653 Julian Assange, the Australian founder of WikiLeaks, the controversial website that has been posting classified government documents, is now being held without bail in the U.K., awaiting extradition to Sweden on a rape charge. But sensational news aside, his site's recent release of confidential U.S. State Department cables has opened up a fundamental debate over privacy of information versus public access on the open web. It also has implications for businesses and corporations with sensitive information to shield, according to experts at Wharton and the University of Pennsylvania. (Source: Knowledge@Wharton) Wed, 08 Dec 2010 21:38:32 +0100 892194 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ouseful/~3/UC2BahJclkw/ “No-one would have believed, in the last days of 2010, that these were the first days of the first internet war…” And in return, there are reports that “Anonymous’ own Web site, anonops.net, has been hit with massive counter-DDOS attacks”. Context: WikiLeaks: Who are the hackers behind Operation Payback? And the result? PS a bit more context – best not forget that last week saw netizens finding ways of routing round censorship/damage when Wikileaks’ DNS registration was taken down (e.g. WikiLeaks: A Case Study in Web Survivability). And more: WikiLeaks Gets Its Own “Axis of Evil” Defense Network: “after sending out a plea for ways to keep the site up and running following the removal of DNS services by its provider EveryDNS, the organization now has over 1,200 mirror sites set up — many of them in Europe — through which it can publish any documents instantly. The site has also taken a number of other steps that will make it virtually impossible to remove it completely from the Internet .” And on the Anon folk: The 24-hour Athenian democracy [The Economist] 23.44 Seems like the Anon folk have having to flit around the twitterverse: Who knows wtf is going on? Fog of (dis)information descends: Readwriteweb is also reporting that the Anon folks are claiming their Facebook Group page has been taken down… (anyone got before and after screenshots?) A quick poke around US threat level documentations turns up the INFOCON threat scale [pdf] (Wikipedia quick hit) which gets me wondering: do corps like Facebook and Twitter have INFOCON levels of their own, and did they just up them..?!;-) Thurs, 00. ... Wed, 08 Dec 2010 21:02:35 +0100 892171 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/08/vargas-llosa-nobel-address-political-literature Addressing the Swedish Academy, the novelist says fiction is essential to a healthy societyPeruvian Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa delivered a resounding tribute to fiction's power to inspire readers to greater ambition, to dissent and to political action, in his Nobel lecture In Praise of Reading and Fiction, given last night.Vargas Llosa was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in October, with the Swedish Academy citing his "cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt and defeat". The man who ran for president of Peru in 1990, and whose novels often include overtly political subjects such as the searing portrait of South American dictator General Trujillo in The Feast of the Goat, said he had sometimes wondered whether writing was "a solipsistic luxury" in countries like his own, where so many people were poor and illiterate and where culture was a privilege of the few.But, he went on, he had come to realise that fiction is essential to a healthy society. "We would be worse than we are without the good books we have read, more conformist, not as restless, more submissive, and the critical spirit, the engine of progress, would not even exist," he argued. "Like writing, reading is a protest against the insufficiencies of life. When we look in fiction for what is missing in life, we are saying, with no need to say it or even to know it, that life as it is does not satisfy our thirst for the absolute – the foundation of the human condition – and should be better."It emerged recently that Vargas Llosa had to agree to having his 1963 classic The City and The Dogs censored before the book was passed for publication in Franco-era Spain. But he argued last night that it is fiction that alerts us to tyranny, and that censorship is only established because dictatorial regimes are afraid of its power. ... Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:46:12 +0100 891261 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JohnBattellesSearchblog/~3/V1ol1xblEzg/google_china_wikileaks_the_actual_cable.php When the Wikileaks story broke, I wrote a short piece chastising folks for blogging the assertion that one of the cables proves the Chinese government was behind the Google hacking which preceded Google's pulling out of the country. The cable is based on single sources, who are anonymous and second-hand, and that doesn't pass the journalistic sniff test. My colleague Matt McAlister at the Guardian has sent me the link to the entire cable, and while I stand by my original take on the story, it sure is intriguing to read. In fact, the details I find most interesting are the interactions alleged between Baidu and the Chinese goverment. From the cable: .... Another contact claimed a top PRC leader was actively working with Google competitor Baidu against Google. .... Google's recent move presented a major dilemma (maodun) for the Chinese government, not because of the cyber-security aspect but because of Google's direct challenge to China's legal restrictions on Internet content. The immediate strategy, XXXXXXXXXXXX said, seemed to be to appeal to Chinese nationalism by accusing Google and the U.S. government of working together to force China to accept "Western values" and undermine China's rule of law. The problem the censors were facing, however, was that Google's demand to deliver uncensored search results was very difficult to spin as an attack on China, and the entire episode had made Google more interesting and attractive to Chinese Internet users. All of a sudden, XXXXXXXXXXXX continued, Baidu looked like a boring state-owned enterprise while Google "seems very attractive, like the forbidden fruit." .... XXXXXXXXXXXX noted the pronounced disconnect between views of U.S. parent companies and local subsidiaries. PRC-based company officials often downplayed the extent of PRC government interference in their operations for fear of consequences for their local markets. Our contact emphasized that Google and other U.S. ... Wed, 08 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 891274 http://librarychronicles.blogspot.com/2010_12_01_archive.html#934654164790433101 Joe Lieberman: Freedom warrior. A leading US senator suggested tonight that the New York Times and other news organisations publishing the US embassy cables being released by WikiLeaks could be investigated for breaking American espionage laws.Joe Lieberman, the chair of the Senate homeland security committee, told Fox News: "To me the New York Times has committed at least an act of, at best, bad citizenship, but whether they have committed a crime is a matter of discussion for the justice department."Remember back nearly a year ago now when mayoral candidate John Georges got all upset because some bloggers were writing about some embarrassing things in his past and recording him at speaking engagements where he made an ass of himself? Imagine if Georges had been able to have those bloggers censored by Cox and investigated by NOPD. Because that's pretty much what's going on right now with regard to Wikileaks. As Digby points out here, it's pretty much why we have a First Amendment in the first place. (Source: Library Chronicles) Tue, 07 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 892024 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Librarianinblack/~3/_N-t6LmTU8c/censorship-is-censorship-especially-when-its-the-library-of-congress.html The Library of Congress has blocked access on all of its computers to Wikileaks.  This action was taken, according to the Library of Congress blog, in direct response to a memo from the White House Executive Branch.  According to a New York Times article, the White House has since said that it issued no such directives to block Wikileaks in any government agency.  I am unconcerned with the “he said, she said” childish finger pointing of the different arms of government.  I don’t care who said what to whom in a memo, an email, or in a hallway conversation. I am, however, gravely concerned that the leading library of the United States has willfully and arbitrarily blocked access to information.  Blocking access to information, any information, is censorship. This action is unconscionable. I condemn the Library of Congress action in every way, and like others I fully reject their attempt at justifications or defenses of their action.  There is never a justification for blocking access to information in a library — never. The Library of Congress’s decision is a violation of the First Amendment and a violation of the American Library Association’s Bill of Rights.  Moreover, it is a violation of the professional ethics of librarians to always provide free access to all information.  The Librarian of Congress has violated our ethics knowingly.  I am horrified. The documents leaked on Wikileaks have been posted on the free and open web for some time now, and are therefore pieces of open and free information on the web, as is all other information in the United States.  These documents are not illegal.  So why, pray tell, does anyone have the right to block access to them in a federal government institution? In this case particularly, access to this information is even more critical to the continued success of an open democracy. ... Tue, 07 Dec 2010 02:15:04 +0100 892219 http://librarian.lishost.org/?p=3331 Wikileaks and the Politics of Information About Anarkismo.net Who we are and why we do it Anarkismo.net is the product of international co-operation between anarchist organizations and individuals who agree with our Editorial Statement (see below). It is intended to further communication, discussion and debate within the global anarchist movement. Our intention is to build this site into a resource that is truly global and multilingual. (Source: Librarian) Sun, 05 Dec 2010 14:07:19 +0100 891337 http://librarian.lishost.org/?p=3325 See full press release here. December 4, 2010. The Progressive Librarians Guild (PLG) condemns in the strongest possible terms the blocking of Wikileaks by the Library of Congress and rejects on all grounds their arguments in defense of this move. The action is a violation of American librarianship’s historic commitments to the public’s right to know, to freedom of the press and to the very essence of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. It is also in violation of the American Library Association’s most fundamental commitments to intellectual freedom as embodied in the Library Bill of Rights. We call on the ALA to condemn unequivocally this move by the Library of Congress to actively conspire in preventing access to information in the public interest Blocking access to this published information is censorship, plain and simple, and supporting sanctions against reading is endorsing abridgment of intellectual freedom. The documentation’s open publication by an agency of the free press, Wikileaks, renders its government classification status irrelevant. See full press release here. (Source: Librarian) Sun, 05 Dec 2010 13:30:30 +0100 891339 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/04/life-times-nadine-gordimer-review Two new collections map Nadine Gordimer's engagement with the moral dimension of her art. By Mark Gevisser"The moment when I am no longer more than a writer, I will cease to write." This statement by Albert Camus is Nadine Gordimer's credo, she tells us in a 2006 essay collected in Telling Times, (Telling Times: Writing and Living 1950-2008, Bloomsbury, £35), the magisterial anthology of her non-fiction written since 1950, which serves as a companion to Life Times, a new collection of her short stories.Camus's statement helps to explain the vitality of this extraordinary writer and the moral gaze she has cast – arch and rigorous – over literature and politics in the past 60 years. It explains why she took herself off to Israel/Palestine well into her 80s to give a lecture on the need to bear witness. It also surely explains why, at the age of 87, she recently decided to lead South African writers in protest against the moves towards restricting press freedom by the ruling African National Congress, the movement she has long supported.In early essays Gordimer noted the lack of a Camus-like figure, the philosopher-novelist, in anglophone literature. These new collections demonstrate how assiduously she has set out to establish for herself such a role, from her "beautiful old tin-roofed house with room for my books", with Johannesburg's mine-dumps and tough black townships just beyond. She is intensely conscious of her position as a white South African who saw, early on, the evil being done in her name and thus became a "minority-within-a-minority". She has taken what she believes to be her primary burden and turned it into a lifelong moral quest: to be a writer by being more than a writer. ... Sat, 04 Dec 2010 00:05:37 +0100 890149 http://lisnews.org/library_congress_blocks_wikileaks From The Guardian: The Library of Congress tonight joined the education department, the commerce department and other government agencies in confirming that the ban is in place. Although thousands of leaked cables are freely available on the Guardian, New York Times and other newspaper websites, as well as the WikiLeaks site, the Obama administration insists they are still classified and, as such, have to be protected. (Source: LISNews.org) Fri, 03 Dec 2010 22:54:09 +0100 890219 http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/madreads/index.php/2010/12/02/artstribe-presents-cover-to-cover-exhibit/ From now through the end of the year at the Central Library, artsTRIBE takes on the “book”…books as subject matter, books as raw material, books as inspiration.  This new work debuted at the 2010 Wisconsin Book Festival and included a site-specific installation at the Overture Center.  The exhibition tours to eight different public libraries throughout 2011, including the Central Library in December of 2010, and the Sequoya Branch Library in January and February of 2011. From the artists’ description of their intentions for the show: “Books have a mystery to them – the smell of the used bookstore, the “what next” feeling before starting a new chapter.  They can inspire, illuminate and comfort. They can foment outrage and censorship.  Books entwine themselves in our memories.  The favorite novel taken down from the shelf periodically, the children’s book that brings an era rushing back, the bible passed down to the next generation, the diary, the little black book, the manifesto.  A specific author, a water-stained art book that you just can’t part with, an encyclopedia missing one volume, a signed edition.  One power of books is that, while mass produced, they speak to each of us in personal ways. artsTRIBE will mount an exhibition that grapples with some of these ideas.” For more information about artsTRIBE, visit the artists’ website. (Source: MADreads) Thu, 02 Dec 2010 23:52:37 +0100 889950 http://lisnews.org/smithsonian_censors_itself_behest_government The Smithsonian Museum has been under pressure from Catholics and congressmen to pull pieces of an exhibit focusing on homosexuality and homosexual Americans. From NPR: At least one critic has accused the Smithsonian of caving in to pressure from Catholics and from two Republican members of Congress. Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia called the exhibition "an outrageous use of taxpayer money." A spokesperson for incoming House Speaker John Boehner told The Hill newspaper that "Smithsonian officials should either acknowledge the mistake or be prepared to face tough scrutiny beginning in January." More from NPR. (Source: LISNews.org) Thu, 02 Dec 2010 13:35:43 +0100 889835 http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/new/index.php/2010/12/02/artstribe-presents-cover-to-cover-exhibit/ From now through the end of the year at the Central Library, artsTRIBE takes on the “book”…books as subject matter, books as raw material, books as inspiration. This new work debuted at the 2010 Wisconsin Book Festival and included a site-specific installation at the Overture Center. The exhibition tours to eight different public libraries throughout 2011, including the Central Library in December of 2010, and the Sequoya Branch Library in January and February of 2011. From the artists’ description of their intentions for the show: “Books have a mystery to them – the smell of the used bookstore, the “what next” feeling before starting a new chapter. They can inspire, illuminate and comfort. They can foment outrage and censorship. Books entwine themselves in our memories. The favorite novel taken down from the shelf periodically, the children’s book that brings an era rushing back, the bible passed down to the next generation, the diary, the little black book, the manifesto. A specific author, a water-stained art book that you just can’t part with, an encyclopedia missing one volume, a signed edition. One power of books is that, while mass produced, they speak to each of us in personal ways. artsTRIBE will mount an exhibition that grapples with some of these ideas.” For more information about artsTRIBE, visit the artists’ website. (Source: What's New) Thu, 02 Dec 2010 11:01:29 +0100 889872 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/01/bella-akhmadulina-obituary Poet and liberal dissident with an unrivalled status in her native RussiaFor more than 40 years, the poet Bella Akhmadulina, who has died aged 73, was a regal, even sainted presence on the Moscow literary scene. She was practically unique, because it was simply not done to speak ill of her, no matter what one's position in official or unofficial hierarchies. She had an aura to which everyone deferred.Akhmadulina was born in Moscow to a father of Tartar lineage and a mother of Russian-Italian stock, both of them well-placed servants of the Soviet bureaucracy. Her good looks, slightly exotic with a touch of vulnerability, did no harm to her literary progress. She was a teenage prodigy, and earned the distinction of having her poetry denigrated in the newspaper Komsomolskaia Pravda at the age of 20. This did not prevent her graduating from the Maxim Gorky Institute, the professional forcing ground operated in Moscow by the Union of Soviet Writers, in 1960. She was one of relatively few first-rate literary talents to do so.Akhmadulina's precocious reputation was furthered when she published her first collection, The String, in 1962 while still a student. Then came another prestigious dissident credential, the publication of the collection Fever, in Frankfurt in 1968, outside what Soviet Russians referred to as "our" territory. After the death of Anna Akhmatova in 1966, Akhmadulina was increasingly acknowledged to be the foremost living woman poet of Russia.Her poetry did not change substantially over the years. She specialised in shortish, strict-form lyrics, the tone of which stood closer to the patient suffering of Akhmatova than the vituperative keening of Marina Tsvetaeva earlier in the century. The way she spoke about her relationships, passionate but polite, earned her an enormous fan base of female readers and, crucially, did not frighten men. ... Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:44:56 +0100 889605 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LibrarianInTheMiddle/~3/wM70arupgo8/reiffert Workbench Design Home Page Workbench Plans, Reader's Benches, Free Workbench Plans and New Ready Made Benches Cabin Plan and Blueprint - Classic Mini Cabin Plan CW192 "Other uses for the building could be a storage shed, pool house/changing room, guest house, potting shed, etc. " $50 and Up Underground House Book – Underground Housing and Shelter Center for Sustainable Building Research Organic and Biodynamic Management: Effects on Soil Biology These data support earlier findings that organic fertilization rapidly benefits soil microbial biomass and activity, but provide few indications that the biodynamic compost and field sprays further affect soil microbial biomass, community structure, or activity in the short term. Mint & boxed - Hand tools "Next to (or on top of) these chests stood their traveling tool boxes, which were more compact than the larger lift-lidded chests. Through the years I’ve designed and made many such boxes. Here’s a simple version that can be made in a day using hand tools or machines." Bill’s Saw Cabinet by Bill Taggart Introduction to Permaculture: Concepts and Resources "This publication offers definitions and descriptions of permaculture and its central principles. It offers listings of resources and publications on permaculture in the United States, Australia, and worldwide." Straw Bale House Plans "Straw Bale House Plans Small, affordable, sustainable strawbale house plans" Reporters sans frontières - Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents - Technical ways to get around censorship Sandhill Farm: Location Our 135 acres of gently rolling hills are located in northeastern Missouri, about 35 miles northeast of Kirksville, MO. We are in Scotland County with a population of 5,000 people. The area is largely cattle, soybeans, and corn. ... Wed, 01 Dec 2010 08:00:00 +0100 889856 http://wheelockcollegelibrary.blogspot.com/2010/12/can-censorship-ever-be-ok.html Is censorship ever ok? Every October, the Library acknowledges Banned Books Month with an exhibit of banned titles. We pat ourselves on the back because, after all, we don’t ban books. We’re librarians, educators, scholars. We’re for intellectual freedom 100%. Aren’t we? In September, Boyd Tonkin published a column in The Independent in response to an exhibit of banned titles created by London libraries. He felt the titles were too easy, titles we’re too comfortable defending. His point was that almost everyone believes in censorship at one time or another. To illustrate, he compiled a list of 10 titles—that weren’t included in the London exhibit—he thought would be more difficult to defend. His list is not comfortable reading. It reminds us of the other side of the banned books discussion, the part that happens after we say, “I’d never, ever censor” when we stammer out, “Except for that book.” Tomkins’ list includes Did Six Million Really Die? “a Holocaust denial manual” according BookTryst. I consider it hate speech, designed solely for fueling anti-Semitism. But Tomkins’ list also includes Osama bin Laden’s Messages to the World, about which one reviewer stated, “Bin Laden has been precise in telling America the reasons he is waging war on us. None of the reasons has anything to do with our freedom, liberty and democracy but everything to do with US policies and actions in the Muslim world.” That happens to be a statement I agree with. Another person—perhaps someone whose life was touched by the events of 9/11—might consider that statement outrageous and untrue, and bin Laden’s book good only for burning. Further down the list are Pauline Réage’s Story of O, a well-known erotic novel about sado-masochism, and AM Homes’ The End of Alice, a novel told from the point of view of an imprisoned pedophile. ... Wed, 01 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 890838 http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/campaigning-toolkit/successes/Pages/More stories.aspx      Ned Potter, LIFE-SHARE  Project Officer, University of Leeds LibraryOver the past year or so I've learned that if you want something to happen, social media allows you to make it happen yourself; you don't have to wait for anyone else to do it.  As a New Professional that's very liberating and if you've joined the profession in the last few years, have a look at the LIS New Professionals Network and connect with others who are engaged in the same way you are. I am collaborating with Laura Woods to bring to the attention of the wider community the problem of the Echo Chamber in libraries. This phenomenon describes how we in the information profession have a tendency to bounce great ideas off one another - about how great libraries are, about marketing, and about advocacy - but we only talk to each other about them. We're constantly preaching to the converted, inside an echo-chamber. We need to make sure our ideas are heard by those outside our own sphere - in particular those who are currently indifferent towards libraries but who would find them valuable if only they knew what we actually DO these days. It’s particularly galling when libraries are misrepresented in the media but often our ripostes only reach ourselves – they stay within the Echo Chamber. We can all campaign for libraries, both as part of a collective movement and individually - each time someone questions the value of libraries, take the opportunity to try and convince them of their worth. If they still don't have any use for their local library then that's fine, we can't please everyone - the important thing is they can make an informed decision, because media and public perception of the profession is struggling to catch up with the 21st Century reality. Essentially we are all library advocates whether we like it or not - the only issue is how well we seize the opportunity... Follow Ned - thewikiman -  on his Blog and Twitter. ... Tue, 30 Nov 2010 12:17:42 +0100 890277 http://pelhamlibrary.blogspot.com/2010/11/homeland-security-and-willful-copyright.html Since when is copyright infringement a homeland security issue? Just asking....According to a number of members of the web4lib listserv, a number of sites have been taken down by the US government under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act), in part, for copyright infringement. Mashable has more information on the taking down of Torrent-Finder.com. 82 domain names were seized and replaced with the notice below.In related but separate news, COICA (Combating Online Infrigement and Counterfeit Act) which was introduced as a bill on September 20th, 2010 received a unanimous 19-0 pass in the Senate Judiciary Committee and is awaiting a vote from the full senate. According to "Web Censorship Bill Sails Through Senate Committee," an article on Wired, the committee moved quickly to pass the bill that would allow entire sites to be shut down, allowing government censorship without due process.While illegal activity with regard to intellectual property should be curbed, many people are concerned about the wide-sweeping powers of this proposed bill to shut down legitimate sites without due process. (Source: Fahrenheit 451: Banned Books) Mon, 29 Nov 2010 05:00:00 +0100 890126 http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.education.web4lib/17156 Here is something else along those lines. http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/11/coica-web-censorship-bill/ -----Original Message----- From: web4lib-bounces-Lfqs8nn97uZKgiwHgTXaBw< at >public.gmane.org [mailto:web4lib-bounces-Lfqs8nn97uZKgiwHgTXaBw< at >public.gmane.org] On Behalf Of Diedre Conkling Sent: Sunday, November 28, 2010 1:34 AM To: web4lib-Lfqs8nn97uZKgiwHgTXaBw< at >public.gmane.org; publib-Lfqs8nn97uZKgiwHgTXaBw< at >public.gmane.org Subject: Re: [Web4lib] [Publib] Seizure of Domains by DHS This was being talked about in several places on Friday. I first say this article on Mashable: http://mashable.com/2010/11/26/torrent-finder/.<http://mashable.com/2010/11/26/torrent-finder/> I wonder why a warrant or some warning is not needed on the Internet when it is required for everything else that is not an emergency situation. On Sat, Nov 27, 2010 at 2:22 PM, Robert L. Balliot < rballiot-cCy5WodqtIYAWZK9z39mwJkfDWIwSpTB< at >public.gmane.org> wrote: -- *Diedre Conkling Lincoln County Library District P.O. Box 2027 (Source: gmane.education.web4lib) Mon, 29 Nov 2010 05:00:00 +0100 889204 http://www.teleread.com/chris-meadows/apple-rejects-android-e-magazine-from-app-store/ It’s been a while since our latest “Apple censorship” story, so here’s a mention of Apple rejecting a digital magazine from its app store because the magazine was solely about the Android operating system, a rival to Apple’s iOS for primacy in the smartphone and tablet world. The article points out that other magazines that are partly or mostly devoted to Android are still available in the store, but publisher Brian Dixen thinks that the fact his magazine was entirely about Android was the deciding factor for Apple’s rejection. This isn’t Dixen’s first brush with app store “censorship”, either; he is also the publisher of Gear, a magazine whose habit of featuring partially-clothed models on the cover also ran afoul of Apple guidelines. Dixen complains that Apple’s censorship — and the time it takes to get "controversial" issues approved or rejected — hurts the value of the publications. "We have to get not only our apps but every single copy of our magazines approved," he says. "I wonder what will happen if we choose to make the next issue of our magazine about mobile phones in general a theme issue about Android." He says that approvals can take up to two weeks, meaning information in the publication may be out-of-date by the time it appears. Of course, even Dixen admits that he probably would not sell many magazines on Android through the Apple store even if it was permitted, so the whole thing smells a little like a publicity stunt—submitting an app he knew would be rejected just so he could complain loudly again. Nonetheless, it does again point out that Apple is the final arbiter of what electronic reading material can be sold directly through its store, and even after publishing more specific guidelines, sometimes the decisions it makes come across as a bit arbitrary and capricious. (Source: TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home) Sun, 28 Nov 2010 21:44:05 +0100 889038 http://micheladrien.blogspot.com/2010/11/policing-content-in-quasi-public-sphere.html The OpenNet Initative (ONI) has released a paper discussing Policing Content in the Quasi-Public Sphere.ONI is a collaboration of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto's Munk Centre for International Studies, Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and the SecDev Group (Ottawa). ONI’s mission is to identify and document Internet filtering and surveillance:"Online conversations today exist primarily in the realm of social media and blogging platforms, most of which are owned by private companies. Such privately owned platforms now occupy a significant role in the public sphere, as places in which ideas and information are exchanged and debated by people from every corner of the world. Instead of an unregulated, decentralized Internet, we have centralized platforms serving as public spaces: a quasi-public sphere. This quasi-public sphere is subject to both public and private content controls spanning multiple jurisdictions and differing social mores." "But as private companies increasingly take on roles in the public sphere, the rules users must follow become increasingly complex. In some cases this can be positive, for example, when a user in a repressive society utilizes a platform hosted by a company abroad that is potentially bound to more liberal, Western laws than those to which he is subject in his home country. Such platforms may also allow a user to take advantage of anonymous or pseudonymous speech, offering him a place to discuss taboo topics." "At the same time, companies set their own standards, which often means navigating tricky terrain; companies want to keep users happy but must also operate within a viable business model, all the while working to keep their services available in as many countries as possible by avoiding government censorship. ... Sat, 27 Nov 2010 05:00:00 +0100 888895 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/27/road-stories-vasily-grossman-review Gillian Slovo welcomes a stirring introduction to the Soviet era by one of its greatest writersIn 1961 Vasily Grossman wrote to the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev asking for "freedom for my book". The book in question was Life and Fate, Grossman's breathtaking epic – his Soviet War and Peace – and it had been "arrested" by the KGB. Grossman had fallen foul of a toxic combination of Stalin's postwar anti "cosmopolitan" (for cosmopolitan read Jewish) campaigns, power struggles within the writers' union (Sholokov called the novel "spittle in the face of the Russian people") and the hard fist of Stalinist censorship that, despite the Khrushchev thaw, lived on. Grossman's plea fell on deaf ears. Mikhail Suslov, the Communist party's chief ideologue, said that Life and Fate would not be let out for at least 200 years.Suslov was wrong: although Grossman did not live to witness it, a smuggled copy of the novel was published in Switzerland in 1980. This magnificent exploration of the wartime struggle of freedom against tyranny, translated into English by Robert Chandler who, along with Antony Beevor, has done so much to keep Grossman's work alive in the English language, stands as equal to anything in the great canon of Russian literature.Now Robert and Elizabeth Chandler have brought us The Road, a collection of Grossman's short stories and articles. The pieces, with introductions that give context to Grossman's life, range from stories written in the 1930s, through his wartime journalism, to the fiction of his last years, where the recurrence of the phrase "life and fate" echoes the loss of his arrested masterpiece. Taken together, the collection is a treasure trove that lends the reader an insider's understanding of what it was like to live through the Soviet era, at the same time as it introduces us to Grossman's enduring preoccupation with the wonder and terror of humanity. ... Sat, 27 Nov 2010 00:06:29 +0100 888668 http://blog.booklistonline.com/2010/11/24/weeklings-literary-elephantiasis-stefhaufmannchen-forbidden-books-bad-sex-and-tintin-as-youve-never-seen-him-before/ A quick roundup of the last week and a half before I don my camouflage coverall, smear my face with dirt, and go hunting for wild turkeys with my bare hands. Just kidding–who am I, Ted Nugent? Good old cranky Robert McCrum–why, he even scowls in his headshot! Last week, took books to task for ballooning page counts, explaining “Why modern books are all too long” (Observer): Whatever happened to brevity? Once upon a time, it was not just the soul of wit, there was a strong literary preference for the shorter book, from Utopia to Heart of Darkness. More recently, The Great Gatsby, for my money the greatest novel in English in the 20th century, comes in at under 60,000 words, a miracle of compression. The novels of that great triumvirate – Waugh, Greene and Orwell – average 60-70,000 words apiece; even 1984 is not much over 100,000 words. Hmm . . . having read the article, I find myself agreeing with it but don’t feel that McCrum has really answered the question posed in the headline, other than to opine that “Literary elephantiasis starts across the Atlantic” (meaning here in the U.S., gentle readers). And, frankly, he could have said what he did say a whole lot more quickly. Moving rapidly along, in More Intelligent Life (”We Ten Million“), Alix Christie explains how she keeps going after 13 years of life as an unpublished novelist. (Coincidentally, that’s exactly how long it took me to publish my first novel.) Want to know how she does it? I”ll give you a hint: Stehaufmännchen. An interesting story in the Los Angeles Times about Amman, Jordan bookseller Sami Abu Hossein: “In Jordan, a Bookstore Devoted to Forbidden Titles,” by Borzou Daragahi. Hossein sounds like quite the character–and, for my money, he’d make a perfect character in an uplifting, literary novel about . . . ... Wed, 24 Nov 2010 20:26:07 +0100 889066 http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/2010/11/web-20-untangled-ethics-and-law.html Eric Davies talked about Web 2.0: Weaving ethics and law at the #web2entangled conference in Oxford that I am attending today. This presentation identified how may issues there were, and how few of them were really resolved. He started by asking us to talk amongst ourselves about what ethics meant. He defined it as "moral coices and the values that lie behind them", whilst laws were "agreed principles established by law and society".Meanwhile, Web 2.0 is enabler of creative change - enabling distributed co-creation and so forth. He cited Shoshana Zuboff (Creating value in the age of distributed capitalism): with the focus now on individual creation. Eric characterised this as a mutation in the producion/creation process. This brings empowerment, but also responsibility, to the individual. However, the implications for organisations, as well as individuals, have not really yet been explored properly.In terms of education he saw the mutation manifesting as e-scholarship, and changes in approach to learning and teaching. Eric mentioned Badrul Khan's framework for e-learning does include ethical aspects, which concern "social and political influence, cultural diversity, bias, geographical diversity, learner diversity, information accessibility, etiquette, and the legal issues." (quoted here). He also mentioned other studies which have revealed the concerns about Web 2.0 (such as identity, authority and security) and ways in which Web 2.0 has been used in education (e.g. building relationships, showcasing work). In the latter context, problems that have emerged include ownership issues, disruptive interaction, illegitimate use of content, protecting the anonymity of students and generally protecting their space.Therefore key issues are: trust, privacy, data protection, copyright, plagiarism, unacceptable use (in terms of content and activity) and diversity (cultural diversity, accessibility etc.). ... Wed, 24 Nov 2010 05:00:00 +0100 888324 http://www.lisnews.org/audio/download/38122/LISTen-130.mp3 Somehow we survived last week's re-transmission of an old-timey Thanksgiving special. This week's episode brings a zeitgeist update and a news miscellany. A book review was planned but that is being held back for a later episode. Related links: Possible bank holiday for wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton RISKS Digest hitting Facebook WIRED on Facebook censoring links in their new messaging system The Register on Facebook's new messaging system being similar to a business unified inbox Deutsche Welle on privacy concerns with the Facebook messaging system CNET's Caroline McCarthy on the launch of the Facebook messaging system The Register on Sir Tim Berners-Lee and threats to the web Essay by Sir Tim Berners-Lee on threats to the web The Register's Andrew Orlowski on Facebook's messaging system CNET's Maggie Reardon on a new satellite broadband system National Review Online on NPR surviving a de-funding attempt Ars Technica on the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act The current text of the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act currently before the US Senate Richard M Stallman on how the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act is part of the war on sharing Richard M Stallman referring to the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act as a blacklist for the Internet Shortwave America blog seeing the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act as a possible tool for content isolationism Ars Technica: "Why Don't Americans Want Broadband?" (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Mon, 22 Nov 2010 04:18:58 +0100 888651 http://lisnews.org/audio/download/38122/LISTen-130.mp3 Somehow we survived last week's re-transmission of an old-timey Thanksgiving special. This week's episode brings a zeitgeist update and a news miscellany. A book review was planned but that is being held back for a later episode. Related links: Possible bank holiday for wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton RISKS Digest hitting Facebook WIRED on Facebook censoring links in their new messaging system The Register on Facebook's new messaging system being similar to a business unified inbox Deutsche Welle on privacy concerns with the Facebook messaging system CNET's Caroline McCarthy on the launch of the Facebook messaging system The Register on Sir Tim Berners-Lee and threats to the web Essay by Sir Tim Berners-Lee on threats to the web The Register's Andrew Orlowski on Facebook's messaging system CNET's Maggie Reardon on a new satellite broadband system National Review Online on NPR surviving a de-funding attempt Ars Technica on the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act The current text of the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act currently before the US Senate Richard M Stallman on how the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act is part of the war on sharing Richard M Stallman referring to the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act as a blacklist for the Internet Shortwave America blog seeing the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act as a possible tool for content isolationism Ars Technica: "Why Don't Americans Want Broadband?" (Source: LISNews.org) Mon, 22 Nov 2010 04:18:58 +0100 887653 http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=2639 Call for Chapters: Gender, Sexuality, Information: A Reader While information needs and behavior have become a central research concern in library and information studies, the particularities of gender and sexuality have yet to be centered in the field. Bringing queer and feminist theories into conversation with current LIS research, Gender, Sexuality, Information: A Reader addresses this gap, gathering existing research along with new scholarship on the intersection of gender and sexuality and information use. Contributors address a range of concerns, including paradigms of information needs and behavior research, methodological challenges, and current approaches to assessing and meeting LGBTQ and women’s information needs. Responding to emergent critiques of positivism and behaviorism in LIS scholarship, this collection also seeks to trouble what we think we mean when we talk about gender and sex, as well as “information” and “behavior,” as settled, stable constructs. Critical and Interdisciplinary Focus Current work in disciplines as diverse as legal theory, literary criticism, design, anthropology, and technology studies exercise a profound impact on LIS research. At the same time, the somewhat nebulous sub-disciplines within our field, such as information seeking behavior, information structures, archival studies, museology, information retrieval, and information policy, have been connected by researchers in new and innovative ways. LIS scholarship has also sought in recent years to challenge traditional approaches and suggest new directions for research into the purposes, practices, phenomenon, and organization of information. This reader serves as a comprehensive multidisciplinary anthology where different epistemologies and methodologies meet. It offers a timely and reasoned contribution to feminist and queer LIS research and promotes perspectives that can serve the cause of social justice. ... Sun, 21 Nov 2010 12:17:10 +0100 888745 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/21/pereira-maintains-tabucchi-review Antonio Tabucchi's novel about a newspaper editor in 1930s Portugal is a passionate warning against political complacencyThe Italian original of Antonio Tabucchi's novel, Sostiene Pereira (1994), has been widely translated and adapted to film, garnering major European awards. Its Portuguese protagonist – an overweight widower who edits the culture pages of a second-rate evening paper in 1938 Lisbon, under the dictatorship of Salazar – is therefore already beloved on the continent. Pereira begins by believing that self-censorship to avoid state censorship is common sense, that he need be "nobody's comrade" and that he can convey coded messages of dissent by publishing 19th-century French stories about repentance and resistance. His relationship to politics is like that to dieting – something he knows he ought to attend to, but which is easier to avoid, though doing so may ultimately kill him.Pereira's awakening comes through a young man, Rossi, who is not only the son Pereira never had, but also, in the way of late 19th-century literature, his other self, his political conscience personified. Several other characters are similar stand-ins for Pereira's conscience: a savvy old priest, a lady on a train and his doctor, who talks about multiple selves. Rossi brings Pereira unprintable leftwing articles, slating the Italian futurist Filippo Marinetti or eulogising the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, and Pereira starts supporting Rossi and his revolutionary friends. Gradually, he understands that the times demand he be "for" one side and the novel ends with his commitment to a truly selfless political action.Tabucchi writes with what Italo Calvino, who shared the same translator, called "quickness" – an agility of mind and economy of narrative that pulls the reader along, using conjunctions like lassos. ... Sun, 21 Nov 2010 00:05:01 +0100 887423 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LibrarylawBlog/~3/b_MrNV_PVEE/from-the-freedom-to-read-foundation-every-day-the-first-amendment-and-your-right-to-read-are-under-attack-individuals-in.html From the Freedom to Read Foundation: Every day, the First Amendment and your right to read are under attack. Individuals in communities all across the country are being restricted from accessing information because someone else thought the materials were offensive or they didn’t agree with their ideas. Every day, the Freedom to Read Foundation stands up for the First Amendment and for your right to read. Stand with us! Become a member of the Freedom to Read Foundation, and join your fellow free speech advocates in opposing censorship and protecting the most basic rights of our democratic society. FTRF is the First Amendment legal defense organization affiliated with the American Library Association. FTRF directly engages in much of the most important First Amendment and privacy litigation in the country, including many of the biggest Supreme Court cases of the past 40 years. Thanks to the Freedom to Read Foundation, our right to access information in public and school libraries, the privacy of library records, and free speech on the Internet are significantly stronger. FTRF will continue to vigorously defend these rights – but we need your help to do so. Membership starts at just $35.00 for individuals and $100.00 for organizations. Students receive a special $10.00 membership rate, and recent library school graduates get a FREE one-year membership. CLICK HERE to join the Freedom to Read Foundation today! (If you’re already a member, now’s the time to renew your membership for 2011.) Questions? Contact Jonathan Kelley at (800) 545-2433 x4226 or jokelley@ala.org. Thanks for your support of the Freedom to Read! http://www.ftrf.org/joinftrf (Source: LibraryLaw Blog) Fri, 19 Nov 2010 18:44:53 +0100 887907 http://librarywriting.blogspot.com/2010/11/call-for-chapters-gender-sexuality.html Call for Chapters: Gender, Sexuality, Information: A ReaderWhile information needs and behavior have become a central research concern in library and information studies, the particularities of gender and sexuality have yet to be centered in the field. Bringing queer and feminist theories into conversation with current LIS research, Gender, Sexuality, Information: A Reader addresses this gap, gathering existing research along with new scholarship on the intersection of gender and sexuality and information use. Contributors address a range of concerns, including paradigms of information needs and behavior research, methodological challenges, and current approaches to assessing and meeting LGBTQ and women’s information needs. Responding to emergent critiques of positivism and behaviorism in LIS scholarship, this collection also seeks to trouble what we think we mean when we talk about gender and sex, as well as "information" and "behavior," as settled, stable constructs.Critical and Interdisciplinary FocusCurrent work in disciplines as diverse as legal theory, literary criticism, design, anthropology, and technology studies exercise a profound impact on LIS research. At the same time, the somewhat nebulous sub-disciplines within our field, such as information seeking behavior, information structures, archival studies, museology, information retrieval, and information policy, have been connected by researchers in new and innovative ways. LIS scholarship has also sought in recent years to challenge traditional approaches and suggest new directions for research into the purposes, practices, phenomenon, and organization of information. This reader serves as a comprehensive multidisciplinary anthology where different epistemologies and methodologies meet. It offers a timely and reasoned contribution to feminist and queer LIS research and promotes perspectives that can serve the cause of social justice. ... Fri, 19 Nov 2010 05:00:00 +0100 887381 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ahniwa/~3/3FROO9YkS94/ I don’t know who decided that “cellar door” was the most beautiful phrase in the English language, but I have to say that I don’t agree. Not even a little bit. I find it to be a somewhat ugly, clumsy phrase, with little lyrical quality and, visually, with too much slant to the right. I think about these sorts of things too much, I agree. Every once in a while, I write a combination of words with which I become quite pleased, and, as I glance about the room, I silently preen for a few moments before I move on with my writing. No one ever notices, sure, but little literaku moments such as these sometimes make my whole day worthwhile. Just now in an essay on censorship in Ancien Regime France, I wrote: curtailing scurrilous printing. You can leave the printing out, it’s the combination of curtailing and scurrilous that I quite like, and that will make today worthwhile. Assuming I finish this paper soon. (Source: ahniwa de montréal) Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:18:54 +0100 887395 http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2010/nov/16/press-freedom-singapore The jailing of 76-year-old British author Alan Shadrake in Singapore is, quite simply, a disgrace. It confirms that there is no freedom of expression in the city-state island.Convicted of contempt of court, he must serve six weeks and pay a fine of SGD$20,000 (£9,600). He also faces separate charges of criminal defamation, which are punishable by a maximum of two years in prison and a hefty fine. All the charges relate to his book, which argues that the Singaporean judiciary is not impartial in its application of the death penalty.There is a black irony in juxtaposing his conviction with the title of his book, Once a jolly hangman: Singapore's justice in the dock.I agree with Index on Censorship's chief executive John Kampfner who says that the "sentence once again shows Singapore's desperate difficulties in dealing with criticism and free expression." When finding Shadrake guilty of contempt of court earlier this month, Singapore's high court judge, Quentin Loh, said the book contained "half-truths and selective facts; sometimes outright falsehoods."In an interview two weeks ago with The Guardian, Shadrake admitted to one minor inaccuracy in his book, but insisted the rest was "devastatingly accurate".Shadrake, who suffers from an irregular heartbeat and a serious colonic illness, did offer a qualified apology last week, but stood by the claims made in his book. As Justin McCurry points out, Shadrake's trial has reignited debate over Singapore's use of contempt laws to stifle dissent and punish journalists deemed to have insulted the authorities.Shadrake enjoyed what's been called "a rich and varied career" as a journalist and author. Born in Essex, he spent a lengthy period in the 1960s as a Fleet Street correspondent in West Berlin.In the 1970s, he turned to writing books, having initial sales success with an authorised biography of Bruce Lee. ... Tue, 16 Nov 2010 11:03:17 +0100 886368 http://www.lisnews.org/quotmamnoueh_maqroubiehquot_goes_arabic_proverb_all_forbidden_desired Article in the LA Times: In Jordan, a bookstore devoted to forbidden titles "There are three no-nos," the owner of Al Taliya Books explains with a big smile. "Sex, politics and religion. Unfortunately, that's all anyone ever wants to read about." (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Mon, 15 Nov 2010 18:04:59 +0100 887121 http://lisnews.org/quotmamnoueh_maqroubiehquot_goes_arabic_proverb_all_forbidden_desired Article in the LA Times: In Jordan, a bookstore devoted to forbidden titles "There are three no-nos," the owner of Al Taliya Books explains with a big smile. "Sex, politics and religion. Unfortunately, that's all anyone ever wants to read about." (Source: LISNews.org) Mon, 15 Nov 2010 18:04:59 +0100 886281 http://www.lisnews.org/5_things_learn_amazon039s_latest_pr_disaster Amazon is backpedaling after initially coming to the defense of one of its electronic book authors, a man selling a how-to-guide for pedophiles. "Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable," the company said in a statement. However, after receving massive media attention, the book self-published by Phillip R. Greaves II, The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-lover's Code of Conduct, has been removed quietly from the Kindle store. This latest action further highlights how Amazon seemingly has no idea how to defuse a public relations nightmare; has sketchy business ethics; and apparently lacks a quality control mechanism to prevent more of these publicity headaches. Here are some takeaways from Amazon's fiasco. Full blog post here (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Sun, 14 Nov 2010 17:14:39 +0100 887129 http://lisnews.org/5_things_learn_amazon039s_latest_pr_disaster Amazon is backpedaling after initially coming to the defense of one of its electronic book authors, a man selling a how-to-guide for pedophiles. "Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable," the company said in a statement. However, after receving massive media attention, the book self-published by Phillip R. Greaves II, The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-lover's Code of Conduct, has been removed quietly from the Kindle store. This latest action further highlights how Amazon seemingly has no idea how to defuse a public relations nightmare; has sketchy business ethics; and apparently lacks a quality control mechanism to prevent more of these publicity headaches. Here are some takeaways from Amazon's fiasco. Full blog post here (Source: LISNews.org) Sun, 14 Nov 2010 17:14:39 +0100 886078 http://freegovinfo.info/node/3124 Justice Department Censors Nazi-Hunting History, ("National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 331"), National Security Archive, George Washington University, November 13, 2010. The Department of Justice censored dozens of pages of a candid history of Nazi-hunting (and Nazi-protecting) by the U.S. government to such a self-defeating extent that former officials leaked the entire document to the New York Times this week, instead of fulfilling the Freedom of Information request and lawsuit filed by the National Security Archive and its counsel David Sobel. "Now that we can compare the redacted document with the complete text of the original report, it is clear that the Justice Department is withholding information without legal justification," said David Sobel. ...The Archive posted today its original FOIA request, the government's response, our appeal by counsel David Sobel, the legal complaint in the case National Security Archive v. Department of Justice, the interim response from DoJ, the "Vaughn index" of withheld pages and alleged justifications for the withholding, and the 45 pages of partial and highly-redacted response. (Source: Free Government Information (FGI) blogs) Sun, 14 Nov 2010 15:33:23 +0100 886076 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/11/amazon-ebooks-paedophiles-guide An ebook for sale on Amazon's website called The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure has been taken down after protests from customers and children's charitiesThe internet retailer Amazon has created a storm of protest with customers and children's charities reacting with alarm to the "deeply worrying" sale of an electronic "Pedophile's Guide".Phillip R Greaves's self-published ebook, The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure, went online on the US site on 28 October, but was not taken down by Amazon.com until last night, after receiving more than 40 outraged reviews from customers and sparking an angry debate on the online retailer's Kindle discussion forum.Chris Cloke, the head of child protection awareness at the NSPCC, reacted with horror and dismay. "It is deeply worrying that books like this, which could encourage adults to commit sex offences against children, are in circulation," he said. "They are abhorrent and should not be made available to a worldwide audience."According to Cloke, the availability of such a book raised difficult issues for the internet retailer. "This concerns corporate responsibility," he said, "but more importantly it is about protecting children from sexual predators."The blurb for Greaves's book argued – through a blizzard of spelling errors – that it was the author's "attempt to make pedophile situations safer for those juveniles that find themselves involved in them, by establishing certain rules for these adults to follow" and "appealing to the better nature of pedosexuals, with hope that their doing so will result in less hatred and perhaps lighter sentences should they ever be caught".Parts of the book, subtitled A Child-Lover's Code of Conduct, were available to download as a free sample. Reviewers on Amazon. ... Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:17:39 +0100 885333 http://web.resourceshelf.com/go/resourceblog/61919 From a Business Insider Post by Nick Saint: Amazon initially defended its decision to sell the book, stating that it "believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable." Since then, coverage of the book has exploded, and the book shot on to the best-seller list. Now [...] (Source: ResourceShelf) Thu, 11 Nov 2010 15:39:58 +0100 885435 http://www.lisnews.org/parent_homework_assignment_crosses_line Greenwich's top educator is defending the use of a handout sheet of literary passages containing racial, ethnic and gender slurs that was part of a homework assignment on free speech and censorship in the middle schools. An "appetizer" to a project coinciding with the American Library Association's Banned Books Week, which took place in early October and celebrated the First Amendment, the handout was intended to get students to think about why certain literary classics are considered taboo, said Sidney Freund, the superintendent of schools. Full article (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Thu, 11 Nov 2010 15:35:49 +0100 885584 http://lisnews.org/parent_homework_assignment_crosses_line Greenwich's top educator is defending the use of a handout sheet of literary passages containing racial, ethnic and gender slurs that was part of a homework assignment on free speech and censorship in the middle schools. An "appetizer" to a project coinciding with the American Library Association's Banned Books Week, which took place in early October and celebrated the First Amendment, the handout was intended to get students to think about why certain literary classics are considered taboo, said Sidney Freund, the superintendent of schools. Full article (Source: LISNews.org) Thu, 11 Nov 2010 15:35:49 +0100 885403 http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/amazon-defends-pulls-self-published-pedophilia-e-book/ A disturbing story erupted in the blogosphere yesterday. For a while, Amazon was selling a self-published Kindle e-book entitled The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover’s Code of Conduct, that seems to be pretty much exactly what it sounds like. The author, 47-year-old Philip Greaves, claimed not actually to be a pedophile himself, but wrote from his own pre-teen and teen experiences after having been involuntarily hospitalized for manic depression. Before the book drew widespread attention, Greaves said he had sold one copy (link probably NSFW). But after enraged commentary hit social networks and blogs, it sold enough copies to reach #80 on Amazon’s top 100 books list before Amazon finally pulled it. Oddly, only hours before yanking the book, Amazon strongly defended selling it, even though Amazon’s own policies prohibit content that includes “offensive material” or that “may lead to the production of an illegal item or illegal activity.” Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable. Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions. Apparently thousands of people proclaiming an intent to boycott Amazon over this title, followed by attention from the non-Internet media such as Dr. Phil, were sufficient to cause Amazon to change its mind. Still, I find it more than a little strange that Amazon should have been so quick to defend the right to sell a pedophilia guide when, 18 months ago, it drew widespread “Amazonfail” derision for stripping sales rankings from gay and lesbian books. ... Thu, 11 Nov 2010 14:15:00 +0100 885357 http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/nov/10/rnib-talking-books-anniversary Some 75m books on vinyl, cassette and now special compressed CD, have been issued free to more than 2 million people with sight problemsIt was soldiers who lost their sight during the first world war and complained that learning to read using Braille was difficult that spurred the RNIB to come up with its Talking Book service. This week, the service celebrates its 75th anniversary. The first titles, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, by Agatha Christie, and Typhoon, by Joseph Conrad, recorded on 12-inch shellac gramophone records were sent out by the charity supporting blind and partially sighted people on 7 November1935.The records played at 24 revolutions per minute, rather than the then standard 75 rpm, so that 25 minutes of speech could be crammed on each side. Even so, a typical novel required 10 double-sided discs.The Society of Authors and the Society of Publishers lent the service their support to avoid copyright problems and the Post Office granted cheap postage rates. By September 1937, 966 specialist 24 rpm players had been sent out to readers with 42 new titles recorded.Since then, around 75m books on vinyl, cassette and now special compressed CD, have been issued free to more than 2 million people. The most popular authors include JK Rowling, James Patterson, Agatha Christie, Danielle Steel, John Grisham and Jodi Picoult. Over the last 12 months Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel, Dear Fatty, by Dawn French, and How to Cheat at Cooking, by Delia Smith, were among the most popular listens.A new talking book costs up to £2,500 to produce and there are around 18,000 titles available. The charity charges an annual £79 subscription fee, which includes the special player required to listen to the extra-long CDs, for the £4m a year service. In many cases the fee is paid by local authorities via library services. ... Wed, 10 Nov 2010 07:30:01 +0100 885089 http://newpagesblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/censorship-in-iran-publishing.html "Figures from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance show that the country has some 7,000 publishing firms. Take just two of these companies - one of them says it has about 70 novels and short story collections currently pending approval from the censors. The other says it has had between 50 and 70 books awaiting review at any one time for the past two years."Censors...go through already (Source: NewPages Blog) Wed, 10 Nov 2010 05:00:00 +0100 885936 http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/madreads/index.php/2010/11/08/waiting-in-the-dark/ Barbara Demick opens her case study Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea with a telling image.   In a sea of light consisting of Japan, South Korea and its fellow Communist state China, North Korea is dark.  More than just a lack of electricity keeps the population in the dark.  Since the ceasefire that ended the shooting Korean War in 1953, North Korea has remained in permanent lockdown, its society the strictest Communist state on the globe, its gigantic military constantly prepared for all out war against its way of life. Visitors that do gain access to the country can rarely venture beyond the showpiece capital of Pyongyang, and the little information trickling out from the country usually bears the stamp of strident government censors.  To the rest of the world, North Korea is not so much a blank space on the map as a black hole from which no sign of life can emerge. Remarkable, then, Demick’s study of everyday life north of the 38th parallel.  It is easy to be drawn into regarding North Koreans as one entity–exactly the sort of ideology Kim Jong-Il’s government pounds into its population–but Demick draws out individual lives, each with individual motives for escaping.  Along with illegally taped footage and reports from foreign aid workers, Demick focuses on the accounts of six defectors originally from the far northern city of Chongjin, including: Mrs. Song, a true believer in Kim’s regime; Jun-sang, the smart university boy whose relatives in Japan give him enough wealth to keep from starving; and Mi-ran, the daughter of a South Korean POW and therefore of ‘tainted blood.’  They go about their lives with the usual problems in life: Jun-sang and Mi-ran struggle to keep their relationship secret from prying parents, Mrs. Song fights with a headstrong daughter, Dr. Kim has trouble advancing in her job at the hospital. ... Mon, 08 Nov 2010 15:28:06 +0100 884716 http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/eating-trees-reading-leaves-by-matthew-hayler/ You might have already seen some shots of Jonathan Safran Foer’s new book Tree of Codes. Here’s one if you haven’t yet: Apparently Visual Editions came to Foer with an offer -  “we can’t pay you, but on the other hand we’ll make any sort of book you can imagine” (from here) - and this was what he came up with, a near impossible to mass produce cut-up of Bruno Schulz’s The Street of Crocodiles. Every page is uniquely die-cut to make a new (and, we’re assured, cogent) work out of Schulz’s original. There are more pictures over at the Visual Editions site, and there’s even a reaction video which surely makes the art-books-as-weird-porn-for-bibliophiles link as explicit as it’s ever going to be… The book comes out on the 15th of November, so there’s been no chance to read it, but I wanted to write something about its striking form before the content was made available (such separations are impossible, of course, but this is the closest we can get to such a vacuum). A great post over atThe Experts Agree talks about how Tree of Codes‘ form physically mimics the erasures of Tom Phillips’ A Humument (itself a doctored copy of W.H. Mallock’s A Human Document), and aboutOulipo-like restrictions on creation and Burroughs-like cut-ups which lets us start to go a little further into what the physicality of a book we haven’t read might mean, in itself and to the ‘death of books’ argument in which it will inevitably sit. Reporting on an interview with Foer, The Experts Agree post also alluded to the seamy contemporary weight of cutting into documents – redaction. A Humument never felt like a redaction to me, just a creative use, an ever adding, not removing of value. ... Sun, 07 Nov 2010 22:41:12 +0100 884598 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/06/alexander-pushkin-hero-elaine-feinstein Pushkin transformed every form of Russian literature he touched. By Elaine FeinsteinThe genius of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799-1837) transformed every form of Russian literature he touched. What I admire most is the ease of his invention, his range and his own impish courage. His life was as poignantly short as that of Mozart, whom in many ways he resembled.Almost everything about Pushkin was paradoxical. He was at once urbane and mischievous, a man who had affairs with some of the most beautiful women of his day, yet always thought of himself as ugly. He was descended on one side from aristocrats, but on the other from Gannibal, the famous African slave of Peter the Great who became a leading general. He took great pride in his mixed blood, and always kept an inkstand with an African figure on his desk. But the many sketches he made of himself are bitter caricatures.He was exiled to southern Russia just before his 21st birthday for verse written against despotism. Those poems were found among the papers of many of the Decembrists. The failure of their rebellion against Tsar Nicholas I in 1825 led to executions that haunted Pushkin all his life. When Nicholas summoned him to inquire into his loyalties, Pushkin declared that, had he been in St Petersburg, he would have been on Senate Square with his friends. Nicholas appeared impressed by his frankness and allowed him back to the capital, but appointed Count Benkendorff to keep an eye on what he was writing. In Soviet times, poets who were censored or silenced found Pushkin an inspiration. Anna Akhmatova revered him.Pushkin chose a cold young beauty for a wife. Natalya loved balls at court, where she was surrounded by admirers and wore expensive dresses Pushkin could not afford. He longed to retreat to his country estate, but the tsar would not allow him to remove Natalya from court. After receiving letters accusing him of being a cuckold, Pushkin felt obliged to fight a duel to defend his wife's honour. ... Sat, 06 Nov 2010 00:06:40 +0100 884238 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/06/anne-enright-irish-short-story Ireland has produced some of the world's most celebrated short story writers – and continues to do so. Why are the Irish so good at the form, and why do they love it so much, asks Anne EnrightThe short story is, for me, a natural form, as difficult and as easy to talk about as, say, walking. Do we need a theory about going for a walk? About one foot, in front of the other? Probably, yes. "I made the story just as I'd make a poem," writes Raymond Carver, "one line and then the next, and the next. Pretty soon I could see a story – and I knew it was my story, the one I had been wanting to write." It is the simple things that are the most mysterious. "Do you know if what you are writing is going to be a short story or a novel?" This is one of the questions writers get asked all the time. The answer is "Yes," because the writer also thinks in shapes. But it is foolish asking a writer how much they know, when they spend so much time trying not to know it.  This is what the American writer Flannery O'Connor did not know about her iconic story "Good Country People": "When I started writing that story, I didn't know there was going to be a PhD with a wooden leg in it. I merely found myself one morning writing a description of two women I knew something about, and before I realised it, I had equipped one of them with a daughter with a wooden leg. I brought in the bible salesman, but I had no idea what I was going to do with him. I didn't know he was going to steal that wooden leg until 10 or 12 lines before he did it, but when I found out that this was what was going to happen, I realised it was inevitable." She does not say when she knew she was writing a short story, as opposed to the first chapter of a novel – or a radio play, or the rough draft of an epic poem – at a guess, it was quite early on. ... Sat, 06 Nov 2010 00:06:22 +0100 884232 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/04/literature-arts-council-publishing-cuts Arts Council England scraps regularly funded organisation status, raising fears for publishers and campaigning bodiesSome literature organisations may "find their days numbered" following major changes to Arts Council England's funding system, according to some industry insiders.ACE announced this morning it was to scrap the regularly funded organisation (RFO) status that had previously given long-term support to 850 arts bodies. Instead organisations will have to apply for funds on a fixed-term basis.Meanwhile, over 100 organisations will lose their funding altogether in the next four years as ACE looks to slim down its portfolio after a 29% budget cut announced in the comprehensive spending review. Fifty-eight literature organisations will be affected by the changes, including publishers such as Carcanet, Bloodaxe and Flambard Press, campaign bodies including English PEN and Index on Censorship, and events such as the Ledbury poetry festival, the Manchester literature festival and Lancaster's Litfest.At Northumberland-based poetry publisher Bloodaxe Books, chairman Simon Thirsk said that while his company was "in a very good position because sales are holding up and the popularity of poetry is growing", other organisations "may well find their days are numbered". He added: "I do worry about people who have given the whole of their working lives to poetry and the arts and who may lose funding."Gary Pulsifer, publisher at small London company Arcadia, said he now faced a period of uncertainty. "We had our annual review meeting with a literature officer [from ACE] last week, and he did say, 'Don't factor into your accounting funding after next year from the Arts Council England,'" Pulsifer said. "Of course that has to affect how you plan your future – whether it's the possibility of raising money from other sources or cutting back on translations, in our case. ... Thu, 04 Nov 2010 14:01:40 +0100 883795 http://cubgovpubs.blogspot.com/2010/11/supreme-court-discusses-minors-right-to.html The Supreme Court this week heard oral arguments in Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California v. Entertainment Merchants Association,a case that contemplates whether video games deserve specific legal treatment that excludes them from protection under the First Amendment.SCOTUS transcripts of oral arguments are both enjoyable and fascinating to read, and in this case (number 08-1448, to be exact), the discussion has particular relevance to a younger set that has grown to see video games change from simple distractions between homework assignments to becoming a tournament sport and the source of very public discussions on whether the format is an recognizable art form.In his questioning Zackery Morazzini, the Supervising Deputy AttorneyGeneral for California, Justice Antonin Scalia frames the overall issue: JUSTICE SCALIA: You are asking us to create a -- a whole new prohibition which the American people never -- never ratified when they ratified the First Amendment. They knew they were -- you know, obscenity was -- was bad, but -- what's next after violence? Drinking? Smoking? Movies that show smoking can't be shown to children? Does -- will that affect them? Of course, I suppose it will.But is -- is that -- are -- are we to sit day by day to decide what else will be made an exception from the First Amendment? Why -- why is this particular exception okay, but the other ones that I just suggested are not okay?Where the discussion becomes difficult to deliberate is in reference to the games themselves. Three games were mentioned by name in Tuesday's discussion: Mortal Kombat, a fighting game that has also been turned into a movie franchise; MadWorld, an over-the-shoulder perspective video game in colored only in black, white, grey, and red; and Postal 2, an open-ended first-person-perspective shooting game, and the most widely discussed at the Court for its extreme violence. ... Thu, 04 Nov 2010 04:00:00 +0100 883939 http://quippd.com/show/4332/Censorship_at_its_finest_Risha_Mullins_story_on_how_parents_censored_books_in_Montgomery_County (Source: Library Link of the Day) Wed, 03 Nov 2010 08:00:00 +0100 883490 http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/policy/Pages/overviewofpolicy.aspx Policy is a core activity for CILIP. We promote a strong CILIP presence on matters of professional policy. We also comment authoritatively on relevant issues of the day. On these pages you will find policy statements, responses to consultations and information on ethics and research. There is also information on diversity and equality issues and CILIP's Policy Forum.  Policy areas We cover a very broad range of policy areas and currently have three priority areas: Information society: rights of access to information and knowledge, including censorship and intellectual freedom, privacy, copyright and related rights, preservation and freedom of information Learning: Including school libraries, education, continuing education and information literacy Public health: the contributions library and information services in all sectors make to the promotion of public health and patient well-being Autum 2010 round up: Information literacy and managementCILIP has held meetings to discuss our policy work around information literacy and information management. Top 5 policy areasCILIP branches, groups and Home Nations were asked for their views on the top policy areas for CILIP in 2011. A short survey was sent out to Committee Chairs and Honorary Secretaries and Branches and Groups and the results were presented to the Interim Policy Forum (IPF) meeting on 19 October. The policy priority survey results document can be viewed in the IPF papers area (members only). Interim Policy Forum October 2010 meetingThe Interim Policy Forum met on 19 October to consider policy and advocacy priority areas in 2011 to recommend to CILIP's Council. The group also considered the Community Services Group's statement on Community Development and Social Justice. It will be making recommendations on both to CILIP's Council meeting in November. ... Tue, 02 Nov 2010 16:04:16 +0100 883888 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/nov/02/us-midterms-politics-scooby-doo Halloween has turned US political discourse into a terrifying shouting match in which anyone can say anything – the loonier the better. UK politics is no different, so I'm joining inAs I write, Best Beloveds, two comedy TV programmes, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, are hosting a non-shouting political rally in Washington and outside my New York hotel, Central Park is filling with nippers dressed as a variety of demons, ghosts, witches, insects, pirates and cartoon characters. It's the Halloween weekend, US political discourse has appropriately crumpled into a terrifying shouting match within which anyone can say anything – the loonier the better – and there is, of course, at least one witch (retired) on the campaign trail. Having just trundled round the country, reading local newspapers and meeting regional reporters as I progressed, I am aware that conventional politicians are, at best, simply mud-slinging and, at worst, dodging arrest and/or releasing whatever witless and scary mouth-noise their reptile brain can conjure, secure in the knowledge that they will never have to defend any assertion, no matter how manifestly unhinged. Journalistic oversight is scant – and seems to come largely from the two light-entertainment shows above – and many candidates are being held in seclusion, lest they tell waiting reporters that the Liberal Media Elite are controlled by al-Qaida elk (those aren't antlers, they're communications antennae), that Obama's healthcare reforms cause cancer, that Jesus hates left-handed people – all of whom could choose to be right-handed if they really wanted – and that gravity is only a myth put about by atheist "scientists" in order to restrict the righteous and their natural ability to fly.This isn't my country, but I am aware that UK politicians borrow all their plays (even – if not especially – the cruel and dysfunctional ones) from the US. ... Tue, 02 Nov 2010 12:18:20 +0100 883324 http://www.teleread.com/paul-biba/smuggled-kindles-help-chinese-bypass-government-firewall/ eBookNewser has a summary article about this phenomenon. Here’s a snippet: The South China Post has more: “Some Net users are accustomed to using proxy servers to circumvent the mainland restriction, but the Kindle makes this unnecessary. ‘I still can’t believe it. I casually tried getting to Twitter, and what a surprise I got there,’ a mainland blogger said. ‘And then I quickly tried Facebook, and it perfectly presented itself. Am I dreaming? No, I pinched myself and it hurt.’ More info at the site. (Source: TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home) Mon, 01 Nov 2010 19:20:48 +0100 883280 http://www.lisnews.org/audio/download/37984/LISTen-127.mp3 This week's episode brings a quick note on the Yemen situation and what it means for librarians, a zeitgeist review, and a news miscellany. Related links: Yahoo News on USPS stopping mail inbound from Yemen to the United States Andy McCarthy at National Review Online about the Yemen situation BBC News: "Yemen terror alert: Obama says explosives found" US Department of Homeland Security on the Yemen situation The Voice of America report John Brennan's take on the Yemen situation Deutsche Welle on the Yemen situation Caroline McCarthy at CNET on Facebook gobbling up drop.io BBC News on the broad broadband outage in the UK Declan McCullagh at CNET on the changing nature of WikiLeaks The Independent on the WikiLeaks civil war Yahoo News on Cablevision & Fox settling Buzz Out Loud 1339 where listeners are called upon to cut cable and go to Over The Air television only The Register on possible net censorship in the UK The Westminster Hall debate referenced by The Register Subscribe to the LISNews Netcast Network via FeedBurner's email tool. (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Mon, 01 Nov 2010 03:15:34 +0100 884041 http://lisnews.org/audio/download/37984/LISTen-127.mp3 This week's episode brings a quick note on the Yemen situation and what it means for librarians, a zeitgeist review, and a news miscellany. Related links: Yahoo News on USPS stopping mail inbound from Yemen to the United States Andy McCarthy at National Review Online about the Yemen situation BBC News: "Yemen terror alert: Obama says explosives found" US Department of Homeland Security on the Yemen situation The Voice of America report John Brennan's take on the Yemen situation Deutsche Welle on the Yemen situation Caroline McCarthy at CNET on Facebook gobbling up drop.io BBC News on the broad broadband outage in the UK Declan McCullagh at CNET on the changing nature of WikiLeaks The Independent on the WikiLeaks civil war Yahoo News on Cablevision & Fox settling Buzz Out Loud 1339 where listeners are called upon to cut cable and go to Over The Air television only The Register on possible net censorship in the UK The Westminster Hall debate referenced by The Register Subscribe to the LISNews Netcast Network via FeedBurner's email tool. (Source: LISNews.org) Mon, 01 Nov 2010 03:15:34 +0100 883068 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/31/arundhati-roy-kashmir-controversy Roy has important things to say, but her tone and bluster ensure the only people listening are those who already agree with herArundhati Roy does what any good polemicist should do. She annoys people and forces them to take sides; she highlights an issue and gets people talking. Too bad that what she gets them talking about has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Inevitably, the debates she stirs tend not to centre around dams, or Maoists, or Kashmir, or even freedom of speech, but around Arundhati Roy.Speaking at a conference on Sunday, Roy said, "Kashmir has never been an integral part of India. It is a historical fact." The rightwing opposition BJP party, already in a mood over a similar conference last Thursday, decided enough was enough – this was their issue of the week, never mind that she has expressed similar sentiments before.The government of India, with its usual lack of backbone, explored the possibility of arresting Roy for the laughably archaic crime of sedition. On Monday, the Hindustan Times reported she "may be booked for sedition". On Tuesday, the Guardian decided she "faces arrest over Kashmir remark". By Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times was convinced that "the Indian government took steps to authorise the arrest". Come Thursday, and editorials and blogs appeared praising Roy. Somewhere amid the ruckus, Kashmir was forgotten.There are many things that are wrong with India. Its foreign policy is wishy-washy, its manner of handling internal security threats is dubious, the way India's powerless are treated by the state is despicable, and Kashmir – that great mix of the three – is an all-round disaster. All of these are worthy of essays, of debate, of balanced analysis and – as important – of partisan rants. There are plenty of rabid righties that need to be balanced by rabid lefties. ... Sun, 31 Oct 2010 12:00:01 +0100 882998 http://santafelibrary.blogspot.com/2010/10/rocket-j-squirrel-and-bullwinkle-in.html A national TV show on Sunday mornings always has an In Memoriam segment. Everyone from celebrities to scientists to authors are featured. I’ll be watching this Sunday for a mention of Alexander Anderson Jr. He was the creator of “Rocky and His Friends” featuring Rocky and Bullwinkle, a staple cartoon of my childhood.Who could not enjoy the antics of the Rocky and Bullwinkle duo or Dudley Do-Right and of course, Boris and Natasha. They were irreverant and political in many of their adventures. Once when NBC was going to censor part of their show, Rocky and Bullwinkle put together a Thanksgiving dinner which got past the censors. They roasted a peacock for Thanksgiving dinner; nothing controversial there. Of course it was too late when the NBC brass realized that they were roasting THE NBC peacock.You can catch many of the programs on Youtube. Don’t miss them.by PCH @Main (Source: ICARUS... the Santa Fe Public Library Blog) Fri, 29 Oct 2010 04:00:00 +0100 882394 http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/10/making-my-stand.html "We've made too many compromises already, too many retreats. They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no farther!" --Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, from the film Star Trek: First Contact. I have been attentive to what has been going on with the recent suicides of gay youths due to bullying up to and including the incident of the bigoted school board member in Arkansas. I have written some things in response, but so far, I kept them in my personal journal. The more I listen and watch and ponder, the more difficult I find it to stay silent, to not stand up, to not say anything. So my three readers can consider this post the one where I draw the line because bullies and bigots come and think they can get away with their crimes and uncivilized behavior. Well, no more. Not if this librarian has anything to say about it, and I do have a thing or two to say. What follows are two small items I wrote earlier that I am ready to share.* * * *  From my personal journal, October 6, 2010: I've been wanting to blog about the recent bullying and suicide stories, but I am not sure what approach to take. Jeff Jarvis, in discussing the tragedy at Rutgers University, summarized it well: "It is a story of human tragedy." What we have here is not just an individual failure. We have a community failure from the parents of those bullies who very likely failed to instill good values like common decency to a society that pretty much is willing to accept bullying. That we had more than one suicide due to bullies in less than a month was probably enough for the media to cover it. But if it had been just one suicide in some small town, no one else would have heard about it, and people in that small town, with the exception of the victim's relatives, would have likely chalked it up to "boys will be boys" or some similar line. ... Thu, 28 Oct 2010 20:21:00 +0100 882719 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/oct/28/lady-chatterley-trial-war-on-obscenity Between 1950 and 1953, more than 4,000 books were deemed obscene by the Home Office and banned from publication. Alan Travis tells how the liberty of literature in Britain was eventually savedIt was DH Lawrence's stepdaughter, Barbara Barr, who best caught the public mood on the refusal of the Old Bailey jury to condemn Lady Chatterley's Lover as an obscene book. "I feel as if a window has been opened and fresh air has been blown right through England," she said.The ban on the publication of Lady Chatterley had been in force since 1929, when British customs started to seize Italian-printed copies of the first edition after the authorities ensured that Lawrence couldn't find a British publisher.Chatterley was not the first of Lawrence's books to suffer from what he called the "nanny-goat-in-a-white petticoat silliness of it all". His 1915 antiwar novel, The Rainbow, was also banned by the Bow Street Magistrates, mainly for its open discussion of sex.But Lawrence was not alone. It is not widely appreciated just how deeply entrenched the censorship of literature became in Britain during a large part of the 20th century.At its peak, between 1950 and 1953, more than 4,000 titles, including 1,500 novels, featured on the secret banned lists maintained by the Home Office and Customs. They included works that even the Home Office civil servants recognised as world classics, such as Flaubert's Madame Bovary, Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders and Boccaccio's Decameron.The ban was a serious business. In 1955, a Soho bookseller had been jailed for two months for selling a copy of Lady Chatterley's lover. The year before, there had been 132 prosecutions under the 1867 Obscene Publications Act, with a total of 167,000 books destroyed in Scotland Yard's furnaces. ... Thu, 28 Oct 2010 20:00:02 +0100 882343 http://dltj.org/article/thursday-threads-2010w43/ Receive DLTJ Thursday Threads by E-mail! Enter your email address:Delivered by FeedBurnerThis week’s Thursday Threads looks at a big hole in the security model of most internet sites that require you to log into them with a username and password plus a pair of stories about “big media” battles. If you find these interesting and useful, you might want to add the Thursday Threads RSS Feed to your feed reader or subscribe to e-mail delivery using the form to the right. If you would like a more raw and immediate version of these types of stories, watch my FriendFeed stream (or subscribe to its feed in your feed reader). Comments, as always, are welcome.Users of Non-SSL Sites are Prone to HijackingWhen logging into a website you usually start by submitting your username and password. The server then checks to see if an account matching this information exists and if so, replies back to you with a “cookie” which is used by your browser for all subsequent requests.It’s extremely common for websites to protect your password by encrypting the initial login, but surprisingly uncommon for websites to encrypt everything else. This leaves the cookie (and the user) vulnerable. HTTP session hijacking (sometimes called “sidejacking”) is when an attacker gets a hold of a user’s cookie, allowing them to do anything the user can do on a particular website. On an open wireless network, cookies are basically shouted through the air, making these attacks extremely easy.Screenshot of Firesheep in action, from codebutler.comThis is a widely known problem that has been talked about to death, yet very popular websites continue to fail at protecting their users. The only effective fix for this problem is full end-to-end encryption, known on the web as HTTPS or SSL. ... Thu, 28 Oct 2010 19:41:20 +0100 883388 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/a-informacao/~3/zDGajaK18Qc/google-nao-e-diretamente-responsavel.html Por Mayara Barreto O Google não é diretamente responsável pelos conteúdos inseridos em seus domínios e sim mero prestador de serviços. Mas precisa retirar do ar o mais breve possível perfis falsos no Orkut — site de relacionamentos. O entendimento é do desembargador do Tribunal de Justiça de São Paulo, Francisco Loureiro, que reduziu a indenização imposta ao Google em ação movida pelo piloto de Fórmula 1, Rubinho Barrichello. A ação foi movida por causa da publicação de um perfil falso no piloto no Orkut. Ele explicou que para fixar o valor do dano moral, devem-se levar em conta suas funções ressarcitória e punitiva. Na função ressarcitória, olha-se para a vítima e para a gravidade objetiva do dano. Na função punitiva, olha-se para quem causou o dano para que a indenização represente advertência. Com base nisso, ele diminuiu a indenização de R$ 850 mil para R$ 200 mil. Em primeira instância, o Google foi condenado ao pagamento de R$ 850 mil por danos morais mais R$ 50 mil por novo perfil falso e comunidades criados. E, caso descumprisse a medida cautelar, sofreria multa diária de R$ 1 mil. Na época, o valor da indenização por dano moral, atualizado desde que a ação foi impetrada, poderia chegar a mais de R$ 1,2 milhão. A empresa recorreu. Alegou no TJ-SP a inviabilidade técnica de fiscalização prévia e controle de conteúdo que iniba os usuários de inserirem remissão ao nome de Barrichello. Sustentou que é necessário que ele indique as páginas que deseja ver removidas do site. Isso porque considera inviável o atendimento da obrigação genérica. Argumentou, ainda, que não pode funcionar com o censor e repressor à ampla liberdade de manifestação do pensamento, constitucionalmente assegurada. O Google também defendeu a inaplicabilidade da teoria do risco, de modo que a responsabilidade é subjetiva. Insistiu na inexistência de ilícito e na ausência de dano causado ao autor. ... Thu, 28 Oct 2010 12:59:00 +0100 882319 http://www.lisnews.org/book_bans_and_challenges_20072010_mapped Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2010 Mapped Hundreds of books are challenged in schools and libraries in the United States each year. A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, while a banning reflects the actual removal of those materials. The American Library Association (ALA) provides confidential support to teachers and librarians and tracks challenges that occur. ALA recorded 460 challenges in 2009 but estimates that this reflects only 20-25% of actual incidents, as most challenges are never reported. This map is drawn from cases documented by ALA and the Kids' Right to Read Project, a collaboration of the National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. Details are available in ALA's "Books Banned and Challenged 2007-2008; 2008-2009; and 2009-2010,"and the "Kids' Right to Read Project Report." (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Thu, 28 Oct 2010 12:53:04 +0100 882429 http://lisnews.org/book_bans_and_challenges_20072010_mapped Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2010 Mapped Hundreds of books are challenged in schools and libraries in the United States each year. A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, while a banning reflects the actual removal of those materials. The American Library Association (ALA) provides confidential support to teachers and librarians and tracks challenges that occur. ALA recorded 460 challenges in 2009 but estimates that this reflects only 20-25% of actual incidents, as most challenges are never reported. This map is drawn from cases documented by ALA and the Kids' Right to Read Project, a collaboration of the National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. Details are available in ALA's "Books Banned and Challenged 2007-2008; 2008-2009; and 2009-2010,"and the "Kids' Right to Read Project Report." (Source: LISNews.org) Thu, 28 Oct 2010 12:53:04 +0100 882265 http://www.teleread.com/chris-meadows/createspace-will-not-print-books-that-mention-amazon/ On Tuesday, writer Michael N. Marcus submitted the manuscript of his latest book, The Brainy Beginner’s Guide to Self-Publishing, to the CreateSpace print-on-demand service for printing. As one might expect, Amazon came in for some mentions—indeed, given the effect they’ve had on the self-publishing landscape, it would be surprising to see any treatise on self-publishing in the present-day that didn’t mention them. Marcus said that the mentions were “approximately 99% positive.”CreateSpace sent him the following response:The interior file submitted for this title contains text referencing Amazon.com. Please remove all text and/or logos which reference Amazon.com.This is made all the weirder by the fact that CreateSpace is an Amazon subsidiary.Given that Marcus is a writer and a blogger, this is perhaps not the wisest thing that CreateSpace could have done, since now the word is going to go out that CreateSpace will choose not to print books for the flimsiest of reasons. Of course, it’s their right to do that if they want, but it’s not going to endear them to authors who might otherwise be thinking of using them.As for Marcus, he’s going to have his book printed by Lightning Source instead.Digg us. Slashdot us. Facebook us. Twitter us. Share the news. (Source: TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home) Thu, 28 Oct 2010 11:15:00 +0100 882292 http://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/10/making-my-stand.html (This is cross-posted from The Gypsy Librarian)"We've made too many compromises already, too many retreats. They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no farther!" --Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, from the film Star Trek: First Contact. I have been attentive to what has been going on with the recent suicides of gay youths due to bullying up to and including the incident of the bigoted school board member in Arkansas. I have written some things in response, but so far, I kept them in my personal journal. The more I listen and watch and ponder, the more difficult I find it to stay silent, to not stand up, to not say anything. So my three readers can consider this post the one where I draw the line because bullies and bigots come and think they can get away with their crimes and uncivilized behavior. Well, no more. Not if this librarian has anything to say about it, and I do have a thing or two to say. What follows are two small items I wrote earlier that I am ready to share.* * * *  From my personal journal, October 6, 2010: I've been wanting to blog about the recent bullying and suicide stories, but I am not sure what approach to take. Jeff Jarvis, in discussing the tragedy at Rutgers University, summarized it well: "It is a story of human tragedy." What we have here is not just an individual failure. We have a community failure from the parents of those bullies who very likely failed to instill good values like common decency to a society that pretty much is willing to accept bullying. That we had more than one suicide due to bullies in less than a month was probably enough for the media to cover it. ... Thu, 28 Oct 2010 04:00:00 +0100 882851 http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.education.web4lib/17004 There's no question it's a concession of some sort. But it's a very slim one. You can lend a book to one person, once, for a set period of time. And after you do it, the book can never be lent again. That's if it CAN be lent. That's contingent on publisher approval. And indeed it also requires author approval, since author-rights agreements always explicitly retain all rights not granted, and even the ebook agreements my wife signed last year didn't have any langauge to this effect. First, I think librarians, individually and as a body, have long taken anti-censorship stances that exceed questions of personal choice. In this case, we're dealing a major realignment of how books exist in relation to people--namely, one or two companies will quite literally know what everyone is reading, when and even where. Economies of scale and network effects make it very likely this will be only a few companies and that most digital reading will be involved. Second, Libraries enter into this directly not only by promo (Source: gmane.education.web4lib) Thu, 28 Oct 2010 04:00:00 +0100 882194 http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.education.web4lib/17006 Either my earlier comments were not clear enough or I do not understand everything you group in "privacy". Hopefully my comments below will clear up what I mean. Tim if you can reply I would appreciate, because I am just not understanding your view yet. Thanks. My personal expectations or documented policies related to privacy are not a censorship issue, nor did I mention censorship in my reply. I do not see how collecting or using personal information (privacy) relates to censorship directly in this case. I also do not see how the Kindle (or any other e-reader model) deviates from any stance libraries have operated under or promoted as it relates to privacy. Libraries have always guaranteed that we will not divulge your reading habits, your search history, or any other transaction data. Libraries teach to understand what information is being collected by others, what decisions you must make about your information, and the individual's personal choice of what relationships to participate due to privacy con (Source: gmane.education.web4lib) Thu, 28 Oct 2010 04:00:00 +0100 882192 http://www.cilip.org.uk/about-us/organisational-statements/Pages/advertisingjobs.aspx The CILIP policy on advertising jobs in Library and Information Gazette.All CILIP Members receive the Library and Information Gazette fortnightly. Gazette is the key place for job advertisements for the library and information profession. While we do not have a monopoly, Gazette is the leading magazine in the field. We have a policy of not censoring job advertisements even if the advertised salary falls below CILIP's recommendations. Instead, Members are given the opportunity to see all the jobs on offer and to judge for themselves whether or not to apply for a post with a less than recommended salary. Gazette does carry a disclaimer warning Members that advertisements do not necessarily meet CILIP's recommended salary guidelines. The disclaimer also explains that we contact employers who advertise jobs that do not meet recommended salary levels. Details of current vacancies can also be found at www.lisjobnet.com/ (Source: CILIP – Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:18:46 +0100 882568 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/oct/26/garry-trudeau-doonesbury-40 The creator of America's first and best satirical daily newspaper cartoon talks about 40 years of upsetting politicians and editorsThe first Doonesbury strip, published 40 years ago today, seems naive looked at through modern lenses. It begins with a character so sparsely drawn he barely exists, though you are intrigued immediately by the American football helmet he is wearing while sitting in an armchair.He is joined by a scraggy-haired young man with a pencil for a nose and the letter O to represent his glasses. This is Michael Doonesbury and the helmeted football player is his new college roommate, BD. Little did their creator Garry Trudeau know when he sketched out that first awkward encounter between them, published on 26 October 1970, that he had just made comic history. Nor did he have any idea that he was embarking on a journey that would stretch into the indefinite future and that those scratchy beginnings would turn into a chronicle of modern times.The strip had come about almost by chance. Trudeau had been having a bit of fun as a third-year Yale student, dabbling with a sports cartoon called Bull Tales based on a real-life quarterback in the local team called Brian Dowling. Trudeau expected the strip to die at the end of that football season. But the cartoon was spotted by a book editor who thought he'd take a punt on it. Out of the blue, Trudeau, at the tender age of 21, was invited to turn the strip into a syndicated newspaper feature, an extraordinary privilege given the national exposure and the almost tenure-like terms it offered – with contracts lasting 20 years."I had given no consideration to a career in cartoons," Trudeau says now. "I thought I was on track to become a graphic designer. So I asked for a one-year contract. My editors howled with laughter."You could say that was the first Doonesbury joke, and readers have been howling with laughter ever since. And not just laughing. ... Mon, 25 Oct 2010 23:04:01 +0100 881617 http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=2561&cpage=1#comment-1151667 We had the same problem. According to McAfee it wasn’t that there was malware on Ebsco servers, but rather that ebsco.com contained links to other sites that had malware. This is obviously a poor standard, because containing links to other sites is the whole point of the Web. You can perform any number of Google searches and get links to malware sites in your results. Will Google be blocked? And if the problem lies not on Ebsco’s servers, but on linked sites, why doesn’t McAfee simply block those linked sites? Anyone purchasing and using these McAfee products needs to understand that they are outsourcing censorship decisions to a company whose business model has nothing to do with academic research or student service. Typically these types of turnkey “solutions” are paid for and implemented by IT departments with little input, insight, or oversight, from the users, professors, and librarians who will be dealing with the consequences of the censorship. The tool becomes a black box which depends on the assumption that McAfee Inc., is making its censorship decisions based solely on the needs of your individual institution. (Source: Comments for Library Juice) Mon, 25 Oct 2010 13:53:51 +0100 882249