Children and the “Language of Privacy”
A guest blog post from ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) Director, Barbara Jones
Yesterday I had one of those amazing days that, I am happy to report, one is never too old to have! I was the guest of three school librarians in the Evergreen School District in Vancouver, Washington. My goal is to visit as many libraries as possible, in order to see intellectual freedom and privacy protection in action—on the ground—and to be able to speak to library users and staff as well. I want to figure out if the current “language of privacy” is resonating with the children we want to reach.
The Evergreen School District is not wealthy. It is blue collar middle class—many people moving from Portland to Vancouver because the cost of living is cheaper. Around half of the children qualify for school lunch subsidies. But the school libraries are as rich as any in their ambience. Each of the three libraries is total eye candy—plants, posters, photos, computers, and, of course—BOOKS and PEOPLE. As Carol Mackey at the Mountain View High School Library said, “I want every child to see his or her image in this library.“ Each of the librarians is on the floor almost every moment. (My visit was apparently an excuse for them to use their office!) All of them are totally on board with privacy protections for their users. All of them have all their books on the shelves—nothing hidden in the back. They have dealt with challenges (attempts to remove or restrict access to library materials) and have a process in place for doing so. I was struck by how the librarians in that district support each other during challenges—they talk to each other about strategy, and attend public meetings to offer moral support.
One of my favorite moments was in Ms. Mac’s elementary school library. She called over several students to talk to me about what privacy meant to them. Two eleven-year olds said that their older siblings had warned them about not giving out personal information on their Facebook pages. I learned that—when I asked them what they thought about “privacy,“ they drew a blank. But, the minute I asked about Facebook, they understood immediately. Some, unhappily, must be aware of predators living in their neighborhoods and their parents have alerted them. (These kids seemed to me to be mature beyond their age, which made me sad but glad at the same time!) They told me that poster contests or acting out plays would be good ways to teach kids about privacy. Another told me that “The Lovely Bones” had taught him that privacy of one’s body is important. (Yet another reason not to ban books like “The Lovely Bones”!)
I am bringing home with me a poster from “Dustin.“ It is Uncle Sam pointing to us: “I Want YOU to keep your personal information private.“ They get it. It is up to us to help them learn even more and to apply privacy to their daily lives.
Thanks again to my library heroes—Carol, Jone, and Judy—for sharing your day with me. Judy, your point-by-point account of the challenge for “Feed” really helped me understand what a challenge looks like at the grass roots.
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National Freedom of Information Day Conference report
March 15, 2010: Guest post from ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) Director, Barbara Jones
The Newseum in Washington, DC is a “must visit.“ Yesterday I enjoyed watching high school students in the First Amendment section, discussing the questions posed to them about the “5 freedoms.“ (More Americans know the names of the Simpsons than the 5 freedoms of the First Amendment!) The complementary right to privacy is carved in stone there: “If the 1st Amendment means anything, it means that a state has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his house, what books he may read or what films he may watch.“ (Former Justice Thurgood Marshall)
Today the Newseum hosted the 12th annual National Freedom of Information Day Conference, which kicks off Sunshine Week, a series of information policy events around the country. The winners of the ALA James Madison Award were Meredith Fuchs, General Counsel of the National Security Archive and Anne Wiseman, Chief Counsel of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics. Their legal challenges to retrieve White House email from the Bush era have laid the groundwork for good email documentation policy for administrations to come, including Obama’s.
Privacy is always a complementary balancing factor in discussions of government transparency. This was evident in remarks by Norman Eisen, Special Council to President Obama for Ethics and Government Reform. When asked about privacy on various agencies’ interactive web systems, he said they “try to err on the side of caution.“ This reminded me of Department of Homeland Security hearings I attended in Spring 2009. Several federal agencies gave demos of their interactive websites, which encourage private citizens to input opinions and reactions. If a frequent flier needs to vent after the flight from hell, there is a place on the TSA web site. But when the afternoon discussions turned to privacy policies, there was not agency-wide consensus on what to do with all that personal data.
Citizen participation is crucial to a democracy. Interactive government websites, however, might not be the best venue.
The keynoter was Congressman William L. Clay, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives. I had an opportunity to ask him about library users’ concerns about privacy and the census. In this case I was much reassured by the response. The census website, and upcoming ad campaigns, will outline the ways in which personally identifiable information is protected—and the severe legal repercussions for any census worker who violates these regulations. It is ironic that people are less concerned about cell phone tracking devices, Facebook accounts, and credit cards, than about the census.
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Free Online Workshops on Hosting Community Discussions
ALA’s Libraries Fostering Civic Engagement MIG is offering two free online workshops to help librarians convene forums and moderate community discussions on privacy in conjunction with Choose Privacy Week, May 2-8, 2010.
The first workshop, “Tips on Hosting a Deliberative Forum on Privacy,“ will take place March 30, 2010 from 1:00 – 3:00 Central. This workshop will cover:
- the logistics for convening your forum,
- strategies you can use to build partnerships,
- ideas for marketing your forum,
- how to use your forum to meet the information needs of your patrons, and
- free and low-cost tools you can use to host a forum in your library.
The second workshop, “How to Moderate a Deliberative Forum on Privacy,“ will take place on April 13, 2010 from 1:00 – 3:00 Central. It will cover:
- guidelines for participants in a deliberative dialogue,
- strategies to encourage participants to weigh the costs and consequences of different approaches to managing privacy,
- the art of crafting powerful and thoughtful questions,
- tips for dealing with people who talk too much or people who don’t speak up, and
- how to make your community conversation part of a national dialogue.
You can find more information and links to register for the workshops here.
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