Digital Commons Network^™

The Nine Circles Of Surveillance Hell: An Institutional View Of Information Flows And Information Threats In Libraries, Seeta Peña Gangadharan, Bonnie Tijerina

LACUNY Institute 2015

In the past few years, libraries have started to design public programs that educate patrons about different tools and techniques to protect personal privacy. But do end user solutions provide adequate safeguards against surveillance by corporate and government actors? What does a comprehensive plan for privacy entail in order that libraries live up to their privacy values? In this paper, the authors discuss the complexity of surveillance architecture that the library institution might confront when seeking to defend the privacy rights of patrons. This architecture consists of three main parts: physical or material aspects, logical characteristics, and social factors of …

Who Does The Internet Think You Are? Three Tools That Teach Students How They Are Actively Profiled Online, All The Time, Robin Camille Davis

LACUNY Institute 2015

Your Internet experience is yours alone. For better but often for worse, websites, ads, search results, and even product prices are tailored to you specifically — but how? A vast collection of data describes you to a number of unseen organizations who use this information to shape the internet you see. This transmission of data is not readily visible, but we have the tools to bring this activity into the foreground. We will answer these questions: How does Google profile you to advertisers? How many trackers are following you around the internet? What information are these trackers transmitting, and for …

Privacy Advocacy In Libraries In The Age Of Mass Surveillance, Alison Macrina

LACUNY Institute 2015

Alison Macrina is the founder and director of the Library Freedom Project, an initiative that aims to make real the promise of intellectual freedom in libraries. The Library Freedom Project trains librarians on the state of global surveillance, privacy rights, and privacy-protecting technology, so that librarians may in turn teach their communities about safeguarding privacy. In 2015, Alison was named one of Library Journal‘s Movers and Shakers. Read more about the Library Freedom Project at libraryfreedomproject.org.

Librarians As Advocates For Social Media Privacy, Sarah Lamdan

LACUNY Institute 2015

Librarians must continue their traditional roles as privacy rights activists and intellectual freedom upholders into the digital age, and across electronic information sources, including social media fora. Social media is quickly becoming a major source of information and center for information seeking, and librarians have an opportunity to promote and help shape social media policies that protect users’ privacy and assure that users can seek information without inhibition. One way librarians can be involved in the promotion of online privacy is by joining the social media user rights movement and advocating terms of use agreements that protect information seekers that …

Library Privacy Policies In 2015: Strategies For Renewed Relevance, Percy Wise

LACUNY Institute 2015

In recent decades, library associations have advocated for the adoption of privacy and confidentiality policies as practical support to the Library Code of Ethics with a threefold purpose to (1) define and uphold privacy practices within the library, (2) convey privacy practices to patrons and, (3) protect against potential liability and public relations problems. The adoption of such policies has been instrumental in providing libraries with effective responses to surveillance initiatives such as warrantless requests and the USA PATRIOT ACT.

Nevertheless, as reflected in recent news stories, the rapid emergence of data brokerage relationships and technologies and the increasing need …

The Walled Gardens Of Ebook Surveillance, Alycia Sellie

LACUNY Institute 2015

Libraries have more options than ever before to provide access to ebooks for their patrons. New platforms, approaches and content providers get involved in ebook sales as time goes on. And there is a lack of critical evaluation of what information is being sent to whom about what our patrons view, download and read.

In this talk, I discuss the concept of patron tracking in ebooks, by looking at various other services and platforms outside of libraries (i.e. Starbucks, Disney Land) which are well known to track user information. I’ll compare these to common ebook platforms (which use Digital Restrictions/Rights …