By Michael Robinson
Chair, ALA-IFC Privacy Subcommittee
Associate Professor at the Consortium Library, University of Alaska – Anchorage
Crossposted from ChoosePrivacyWeek.org
The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom demonstrated its foresight when it started the Choose Privacy Week program in 2010, launching an ongoing program to raise awareness among libraries and library users about the dangers of government surveillance and demonstrating why privacy is important, especially in light of the growing use of online resources and services. For several years, the program felt like it was a lone voice for privacy in libraryland. However, the Snowden revelations in 2013 and the Adobe E-reader kerfuffle in 2014 brought privacy issues to the forefront in the library community and among the general public, and for the most part the case for why privacy is important has been made. We are now moving into a phase where libraries are looking for ways to improve privacy protections for their users, and in light of this change, we have designated Practical Privacy Practices as the theme for this year’s Choose Privacy Week, taking place May 1- 7, 2017. Continue reading Let’s Get Practical for Choose Privacy Week→
Image by The Italian Voice. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.
In a world that is increasing dependent on cloud technology, privacy concerns will never be too far behind. Many patrons rely on libraries as their main resource to acquire software and web access. As a result, the task of protecting privacy defaults, to some extent, to the providers. Libraries are important stakeholders in these conversations.
In the article, Libraries & Privacy in the Internet Age (2013), Eric Phetteplace stated, “Privacy almost always involves some kind of trade-off, for users and for libraries. We need to ensure we’re making the right trade-offs with due diligence.” Phetteplace noted that an important key is to isolate user sessions by supervising access. More proactive approaches to prevention include modifying browsers and educating the public about why their privacy matters. Click here to learn more about online privacy for your library.
If you are like me, you carry around a bit of ongoing guilt about getting more educated about your online privacy settings and then possibly making some needed changes. January is a great time to think about getting organized and such, so a recent blog post by Ellyssa Kroski (iLibrarian, Jan. 29) caught my eye. Not only was her email hijacked, but her Walmart account was also hacked using her stored credit card information. The great news is that Ellyssa did her research about privacy tips and shares here what she found helpful in making some needed changes. Read her hints and tips at http://tinyurl.com/9wwyukf
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