Monthly Archives: May 2019

World Press Freedom Day 2019

By providing access to information, knowledge, ideas and opinions, libraries everywhere uphold the value of intellectual freedom as the basis of an informed, democratic society.

They do this both by acting as the guardians of manuscripts, documents and books, and as a place where anyone can access the information they contain.

Press publications already form a core part of many collections. But libraries are also increasingly realising their role not just as a place to access, but also to share and create information., including by supporting journalism and public debate.

Today, 3 May, we celebrate World Press Freedom Day to support, and raise awareness of the fundamental principles of press freedom and freedom of expression!

World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993 following a Recommendation adopted at the twenty-sixth session of UNESCO’s General Conference in 1991.

It serves as an occasion to inform citizens of violations of press freedom, as well as a reminder of the censorship still seen in many countries today. It also recalls the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) Article 19:

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

Librarians fighting for the right to speak up

Journalists, editors, publishers and librarians can often be targeted by those who wish to restrain press freedom and punished for bringing news and information to the public.

In a recent incident, a librarian in Kansas City, US was arrested simply for standing up for a library patron’s right to free speech during a public event featuring a former US diplomat at the library.

The library hosts between twelve and twenty speakers each month, and though some of the topics and speakers have been controversial, the events have always been peaceful.

None the less, both the librarian and the patron were faced with criminal charges. 6 months ago, the case went to trial and the librarian was found not guilty on the charges of obstruction, interfering with an arrest, and assaulting a police officer.

The Director of the library stated:

“The library, like the judge, has consistently expressed surprise that this ever went to trial, that a public event at a public library should result in the indictment of a librarian.”

Another recent incident is the cause of Natalia Sharina, former Director of the state-run Library of Ukrainian Literature in Moscow.

In June 2017, she was found guilty of ‘incitement of hatred’ toward Russian people and ‘embezzlement’ and handed-down a four year suspended sentence for holding ‘extremist literature’. Sharina has spent 19 months under house arrest, throughout the investigation and trial.

PEN International believes that the case against Sharina is politically motivated and calls for her sentence and conviction to be overturned. Not only is it far from certain that the books in question were part of the collection, but even if they had been, this should not be a cause for arrest and detention.

IFLA has been following the case and published a statement on the judgement calling for authorities in Russia, and around the world, to bring banning of books and the persecution of librarians to an end.

Unfortunately, these cases are not unique. Librarians worldwide are facing struggle in claiming the rights to freedom of opinion and expression.

Today, on World Press Freedom Day, we celebrate the right to freedom of expression and opinion, and we remind that the support is still needed, and there is still much more to be done.

Why Privacy Matters, For Everyone: Chose Privacy Week 2019

Choose Privacy Week was initiated by the American Library Association to draw attention to the importance of privacy, and what people can do about it. It is a great opportunity to learn about the important role librarians play in achieving this.

This year’s theme of Choose Privacy Week is “Inclusive Privacy: Closing the Gap”, and raises awareness of the privacy inequities imposed on vulnerable and historically underrepresented groups. It highlights how libraries can close the privacy gap for those who need it most.

Why Privacy Matters

Privacy is of course a right. As set out in Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, people should be able to live free of arbitrary interventions in their private life.

There is a good reason for this. The possibility to have a private life is central to much of what makes us human. In particular, it gives us the freedom to think, speak and access information freely.

IFLA’s submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Privacy stresses this point, underlining that without privacy, there can be a powerful chilling effect on creativity and innovation.

Privacy has traditionally been seen as a means of protecting the individual against efforts by states to import control. However, increasingly, it is privacy in the face of companies that is coming to the fore.

Data collection has never been easier, and the companies whose services we use are increasingly able to draw conclusions about us on the basis of what they see. Indeed, many of these conclusions may reveal traits and preferences of which we are not necessarily conscious ourselves.

Clearly advertising has done this for years, but the possibility to do so in such a targeted, individual manner is new.

If this was only about advertising, it would not necessarily be so important, although clearly still has a certain ‘creepiness’ factor. However, more is at stake. It can also shape the content we see on line – which stories, posts or search-results are promoted.

Ironically, perhaps, the effort to personalise services comes at the cost of individuality and privacy, as a coded version of your personality is constructed, held on a server somewhere, and then used.

This is not just an issue on social media, but also in the research space. With efforts to move from institutional to personal log-ins to academic articles, the possibility for publishers and platforms to monitor use, and make their own efforts to tailor results and experience also arise.

This is a problem, because it means that we cannot assume that the person next to us is seeing the same thing as we would. Moreover, given that the algorithmic version of your personality can only work on the basis of past data, it does not allow for you to change in the future, potentially locking you into a particular set of preferences and interests.

 

Privacy Can’t Be A Luxury

Yet privacy – and the need for privacy – may not be equally distributed or equally shared.

A first challenge is for people who belong to a vulnerable or marginalised group. In many cases, they may feel the need to hide what it is that makes them unique, given political, cultural or social pressures in the society around them.

The internet has been a major source of support for many in this position, given the possibility to connect to those in a similar situation elsewhere, without having to use what may be a hostile public space.

To have these characteristics and interest coded and used to shape advertising and online experience (and potentially even inform governments) takes these gains away.

There may also be challenges for people on lower incomes, who may, for example, be more reliant on smart phones to access the internet (which pose a number of privacy concerns).

They can also be obliged to share more personal information anyway online in order to apply for government services or other programmes. A 2017 study on privacy, poverty and big data by Data & Society reveals some key trends.

Add to this stories of internet subscribers being asked to pay more for a privacy-friendly connection, or the fact that more expensive phone brands are using privacy as a selling point, and the potential connection between income and the right to a private life becomes clear.

Finally, there is often not a connection between the risks faced, and the ability to do something about it.

Recent privacy legislation, such as the General Data Protection Regulation in the European Union, gives important new rights to individuals. The success of this depends on people being sufficiently skilled and motivate to choose privacy.

Yet is seems clear that even where there is awareness, there may not be the skills – or even the attitude – necessary to act on it. As the Data & Society study shows, while there is demand, people with less money, less time, and less education may feel helpless in the face of companies and government agencies.

This is just as true in the case of right to be forgotten cases. While there is certainly a place for such rules in protecting people against unfair, irrelevant or incorrect information about them being found through search results, the risk is that it becomes a tool for those in positions of power to ‘edit’ the historical record.

 

How Libraries Can Help

A year ago IFLA and the FAIFE Committee used the momentum of the Chose Privacy Week to bring awareness to how personal data ownership affect libraries and library users and offered practical steps that individuals can take to keep their private lives private in regards to the General Data Protection Regulation.

A year after, there is still a need to work to ensure that everyone really is aware of, skilled and motivated to use their choice of privacy.

Libraries have an expertise in information management, and a responsibility to help others develop their own information literacy skills. With more and more library resources found online, libraries can not only offer a means of accessing information and expressing yourself in as private a way as possible, but can encourage privacy-friendly behaviours in their users’ own lives.

In short, the library is not only a trusted source of information but also a community support and can “close the privacy gap” for its users by providing a safe space, training and resources to help them take control of their private lives and data.

Here are a few steps that you can take to ensure the users privacy:

  • Make use of the privacy guidelines for libraries. In 2016, IFLA published the IFLA Statement on Privacy in the Library Environment. The Statement is intended to give guidance to libraries and information services in an environment that includes mass surveillance by governments and routine user data collection by commercial interests that provide content or services through the Internet.
  • Reduce data traces online. Greater care in choosing privacy settings, and simply better data hygiene can all help. And there are great tools such as the Data Detox Kit already available.
  • Apply tools to protect user privacy. ALA has created a list of resources on relevant tools, you can find the list here, while Scottish PEN has a Libraries for Privacy Toolkit.
  • Watch presentations and webinars on the subject. You can learn a lot by watching webinars such as the IFLA webinar on the GDPR, or the ALA video on raising privacy awareness in your library.
  • Help raise awareness throughout Chose Privacy Week!