Controversial French researcher loses two papers for ethics approval issues; retraction watch, October 31, 2023

 Retraction Watch; Controversial French researcher loses two papers for ethics approval issues

"Didier Raoult, the French infectious disease scientist who came to prominence for promoting hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment, has lost two papers for ethics concerns after other scientists flagged issues with hundreds of publications from the institute he formerly led. 

Both papers, “Increased Gut Redox and Depletion of Anaerobic and Methanogenic Prokaryotes in Severe Acute Malnutrition,” and “Gut Microbiota Alteration is Characterized by a Proteobacteria and Fusobacteria Bloom in Kwashiorkor and a Bacteroidetes Paucity in Marasmus,” appeared in Scientific Reports in 2016 and 2019, respectively. They have been cited approximately 160 times, according to Clarivate’s Web of Science."

Students hated ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ Their teachers tried to dump it.; The Washington Post, November 3, 2023

 Hannah Natanson, The Washington Post; Students hated ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ Their teachers tried to dump it.

"The majority of filings targeted books by and about LGBTQ individuals or people of color, per a Washington Post analysis of 2,500 pages of school book challenges filed nationally in the 2021-2022 academic year. Most came from parents or residents: Of the nearly 500 book challengers who gave an identification in The Post’s database, just eight said they were school staff...

Since its publication in 1960, Harper Lee’s novel — which recounts the story of a White lawyer, Atticus Finch, fruitlessly defending a Black man falsely accused of rape — has drawn both protests and paeans.

The objections to the book have shifted over time. In 1966, a Virginia school board banned the book for its “immoral” depiction of rape. Forty years later, a California school district forbade teaching“Mockingbird” after parents alleged it was racist for its use of the n-word and portrayal of Black people. Lee’s novel made the American Library Association’s top 10 list of most challenged books in 2009, 2011, 2017 and 2020."

The Copyright Battle Over Artificial Intelligence; Hard Fork, The New York Times, November 3, 2023

Kevin Roose and Casey Newton, Hard Fork, The New York Times; The Copyright Battle Over Artificial Intelligence

"President Biden’s new executive order on artificial intelligence has a little bit of everything for everyone concerned about A.I. Casey takes us inside the White House as the order was signed.

Then, Rebecca Tushnet, a copyright law expert, walks us through the latest developments in a lawsuit against the creators of A.I.-image generation tools. She explains why artists may have trouble making the case that these tools infringe on their copyrights."

Joe Biden Wants US Government Algorithms Tested for Potential Harm Against Citizens; Wired, November 1, 2023

KHARI JOHNSON , Wired; Joe Biden Wants US Government Algorithms Tested for Potential Harm Against Citizens

"The White House issued draft rules today that would require federal agencies to evaluate and constantly monitor algorithms used in health care, law enforcement, and housing for potential discrimination or other harmful effects on human rights.

Once in effect, the rules could force changes in US government activity dependent on AI, such as the FBI’s use of face recognition technology, which has been criticized for not taking steps called for by Congress to protect civil liberties. The new rules would require government agencies to assess existing algorithms by August 2024 and stop using any that don’t comply.

“If the benefits do not meaningfully outweigh the risks, agencies should not use the AI,” the memo says. But the draft memo carves out an exemption for models that deal with national security and allows agencies to effectively issue themselves waivers if ending use of an AI model “would create an unacceptable impediment to critical agency operations.”"

The Internet Of Things Demystified: Connect, Collect, Analyze And Act; Forbes, October 12, 2023

 Bill Geary, Forbes; The Internet Of Things Demystified: Connect, Collect, Analyze And Act

"When you get past the acronyms and buzzwords that describe the platforms that help organizations manage their operations, it all boils down to gathering information so you can make good decisions. The tech industry establishes a lot of jargon that helps differentiate one technology from another. Those terms are helpful to IT professionals but often serve to confuse everyone else. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a term that creates confusion.

I prefer to describe this technology according to what it does. IoT is nothing more than connecting things, collecting information from them, analyzing it and acting upon it accordingly: connect, collect, analyze and act. By distilling the technology into a plain description, we demystify the term. We make it attainable and approachable—something that everyone can understand."

Biden Issues Executive Order to Create A.I. Safeguards; The New York Times, October 30, 2023

 Cecilia Kang and David E. Sanger, The New York Times; Biden Issues Executive Order to Create A.I. Safeguards

"President Biden signed a far-reaching executive order on artificial intelligence on Monday, requiring that companies report to the federal government about the risks that their systems could aid countries or terrorists to make weapons of mass destruction. The order also seeks to lessen the dangers of “deep fakes” that could swing elections or swindle consumers."

Why the Supreme Court’s wasted time on ethics may cost it; CNN, November 1, 2023

Joan Biskupic, CNN; Why the Supreme Court’s wasted time on ethics may cost it

"Supreme Court justices, who have infinite power over American lives, have continually resisted calls for greater accountability in a formal code of conduct.

Some justices recently signaled that they might be ready to adopt a binding ethics code. But their record of inaction reflects the difficulty of compromise among the nine and suggests any real change may not come at their own hand.

The delay has had consequences.

Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats plan to authorize subpoenas for three wealthy conservatives, including real estate magnate Harlan Crow, who has provided luxury travel and other gifts to Justice Clarence Thomas."

Opinion: Nothing has prepared me for the antisemitism I see on college campuses now; Los Angeles Times, October 29, 2023

ERWIN CHEMERINSKY, Los Angeles Times; Opinion: Nothing has prepared me for the antisemitism I see on college campuses now

"Students have the right to say very offensive and even hateful things, but school administrators — deans, presidents and chancellors — have free speech rights too. They must exercise them and take a stand even if it will offend some and subject them to criticism.

It is a very difficult time on campuses across the country. Many of our students and faculty members have family and friends in Israel or in Gaza. Many care deeply about the suffering we are seeing, and yet there is no bridge between those who seek the elimination of Israel and those who believe it is essential to have a Jewish state. I hope there will be a time when campus officials can find ways to bring their communities together. But it is not realistic now. This makes it all the more important that they show moral leadership and speak out against the antisemitism that is rampant now, as they would condemn all other forms of racism and hate on campus.

Erwin Chemerinsky is a contributing writer to Opinion and the dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law. His latest book is “Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism.”

Georgia State Hosts Deep-Dive Event on Intellectual Property and AI; Georgia State News Hub, October 26, 2023

Georgia State News Hub; Georgia State Hosts Deep-Dive Event on Intellectual Property and AI

"Experts from inside and outside Georgia State University gathered for “Protect Your Ideas: IP, AI and Entertainment,” a first-of-its-kind forum that gave students, faculty and staff a chance to share and learn about intellectual property and artificial intelligence with an eye toward entertainment. The Oct. 10 event was jointly sponsored by the university’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, the College of Law and Popular Culture Collective.

“Atlanta is a national hub for creativity, commerce and research, so it makes sense that we at Georgia State strive to educate people about intellectual property,” said university President M. Brian Blake, who gave opening remarks at the event. “Understanding how to protect your ideas is critical, regardless of your field.”...

After remarks by leadership, Kenny Franklin, senior licensing associate with Georgia State’s Office of Technology Transfer & Commercialization, hosted a fireside chat with College of Law alum Scott Frank, president and CEO of AT&T Intellectual Property LLC and chair of the Georgia Intellectual Property Alliance. The dialogue helped define intellectual property and reflected on its meaning in today’s knowledge economy.

“I tell people that intellectual property is like oxygen. It’s all around us and we don’t see it, but we wouldn’t survive without it,” Frank said."

Judge pares down artists' AI copyright lawsuit against Midjourney, Stability AI; Reuters, October 30, 2023

Blake Brittain, Reuters; Judge pares down artists' AI copyright lawsuit against Midjourney, Stability AI

"A judge in California federal court on Monday trimmed a lawsuit by visual artists who accuse Stability AI, Midjourney and DeviantArt of misusing their copyrighted work in connection with the companies' generative artificial intelligence systems.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick dismissed some claims from the proposed class action brought by Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan and Karla Ortiz, including all of the allegations against Midjourney and DeviantArt. The judge said the artists could file an amended complaint against the two companies, whose systems utilize Stability's Stable Diffusion text-to-image technology." 

What 70% of Americans Don’t Understand About Intellectual Property; Stites & Harbison, October 26, 2023

Mandy Wilson Decker, Stites & Harbison; What 70% of Americans Don’t Understand About Intellectual Property

"The United States Intellectual Property Alliance (USIPA) recently published the results of its US Intellectual Property Awareness & Attitudes Survey. Among its findings, the survey results revealed that 70% of Americans are unable to distinguish between mechanisms – patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets – for protecting Intellectual Property (IP).

Given these results, it's worth exploring the principal mechanisms for protecting IP, which each possess some distinctive features."

Justices Will Probe Trademarks’ Nature in ‘Trump Too Small’ Case; Bloomberg Law, October 30, 2023

Kyle Jahner, Bloomberg Law; Justices Will Probe Trademarks’ Nature in ‘Trump Too Small’ Case

"The fight over ‘Trump Too Small’ is the latest in a series of cases the court has faced in recent years raising First Amendment questions over trademark registrations. Although the justices skipped deciding the broader constitutional questions when they struck down different statutory registration bans in 2017 and 2019, this time the nature of the government’s argument may force the justices to now draw a line in the sand, he said."

The Patent Fight That Could Take Apple Watches Off the Market; The New York Times, October 30, 2023

  Peter Coy, The New York Times; The Patent Fight That Could Take Apple Watches Off the Market

"Masimo argues that Apple’s reputation for innovation is undeserved and that the company has made a practice of “efficient infringement” — using other companies’ technologies without permission and dealing with the legal fallout as necessary. The company points to something that Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder, said in 1996: “Picasso had a saying. He said, ‘Good artists copy; great artists steal.’ And we have, you know, always been shameless about stealing great ideas.”

Apple, of course, rejects this characterization and says the company respects other companies’ intellectual property. In Apple’s defense, it’s fair to assume that Jobs was speaking metaphorically, and not copping to a crime, when he said that the company stole."

Editorial: Support and expand Social Work in Libraries Program; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 28, 2023

  THE EDITORIAL BOARD, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Editorial: Support and expand Social Work in Libraries Program

"The Social Work in Libraries Program, a collaboration among the Allegheny County Library Association, the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, began bringing professionals into libraries this September. The Downtown, East Liberty, Allegheny, Oakland and Hill District CLP branches now each have their own in-house social worker.

These experts can handle more intense interventions. They can take the time to guide people to a food bank or to help them find addiction treatment. They can pull someone into another room to place a phone call to a shelter or help research where they might get an ID. 

Pittsburgh isn’t the only city with this idea, either. Baltimore, Salt Lake City, St. Louis and Seattle have all brought social workers into libraries in the past year.

The local program is still getting established: The social workers are short-term interns, generally students earning a degree in social work. And the other 17 CLP branches are on their own. We hope the county government and local foundations will consider funding to expand the program further.

It’s a creative way to ease the stress on librarians and to bring more services to the people who need them. And it brings help to one of the few public spaces where people are still encouraged to ask for it."

Books under attack, then and now; MIT News, October 26, 2023

Brigham Fay | MIT Libraries, MIT News; Books under attack, then and now

"Richard Ovenden was dressed appropriately for the start of Banned Books Week. He proudly displayed the American Library Association’s “Free people read freely” T-shirt as he approached the podium at Hayden Library on Oct. 2. Ovenden, Bodley’s Librarian at the University of Oxford, spoke about the willful destruction of recorded knowledge for an event titled “Book Wars,” the inaugural event in a new series called Conversations on Academic Freedom and Expression (CAFE), a collaboration between the MIT Libraries and History at MIT. 

“The idea for CAFE is to introduce the MIT community to the broader landscape of what’s going on in the world of academic freedom and free expression, beyond some of our local exchanges,” says Malick Ghachem, history professor and department head and a member of MIT’s Ad Hoc Working Group on Free Expression. 

“The libraries were a natural partner for the CAFE series,” says Chris Bourg, director of MIT Libraries. “The value of free and open access to information underpins everything we do.” 

Ovenden, who writes extensively on libraries, archives, and information management, is the author of “Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge,” which was shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize in 2021. In his MIT talk he provided a historical overview of attacks on libraries — from the library of Ashurbanipal in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh (now northern Iraq), destroyed by fire in 612 BC, to book burning under the Nazi regime to current efforts across the United States to remove or restrict access to books.

In spite of this history of loss, Ovenden finds hope in “the human impulse to preserve, to pass on, to bear witness, to allow for diverse ideas to thrive.” He detailed the extraordinary actions people have taken to save knowledge, citing the “Paper Brigade,” a forced labor unit of poets and intellectuals in Nazi-occupied Vilnius who smuggled and hid rare books and manuscripts, and the tragic death of Aida Buturovic, a 32-year-old librarian who was killed as she tried to rescue books during the 1992 assault on the National and University Library in Sarajevo.

Ovenden concluded by making the case that libraries and archives are the infrastructure for democracy — institutions dedicated not only to education, but to safeguarding the rights of citizens, providing reference points for facts and truth, preserving identity, and enabling a diversity of views. Despite millennia of attacks, libraries continue to fight back, most recently with public libraries expanding digital access to combat book bans nationwide. 

Following Ovenden’s talk, Ghachem led a discussion and audience Q&A that touched on the connections between book bans and so-called “cancel culture,” how censorship itself is used as a means of expressing political views, and growing distrust of expertise.  

The CAFE series is one of several opportunities to engage the Institute community that emerged from the Report of the MIT Ad Hoc Working Group on Free Expression. Ghachem also started a new first-year advising seminar, “Free Expression, Pluralism, and the University,” and the Institute Community and Equity Office launched Dialogues Across Difference: Building Community at MIT. A second CAFE event is being planned for the spring term. 

“At this moment in our history, we should try to encourage discussion, and not debate,” said Ovenden. “We must try to move away from this idea that it’s a contest, that it’s a battle, and encourage and foster the idea of listening and discussion. And that's all part of the deliberation that I think is necessary for a healthy society.”"

Biden plans to step up government oversight of AI with new 'pressure tests'; NPR, October 30, 2023

 Deepa Shivaram, NPR; Biden plans to step up government oversight of AI with new 'pressure tests'

"President Biden on Monday will take sweeping executive action to try to establish oversight of the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence sector, setting new standards for safety tests for AI products – as well as a system for federal "pressure tests" of major systems, White House chief of staff Jeff Zients told NPR.

Months in the making, the executive order reflects White House concerns that the technology, left unchecked, could pose significant risks to national security, the economy, public health and privacy. The announcement comes just days ahead of a major global summit on AI taking place in London, which Vice President Harris will attend."

How a robotaxi crash got Cruise’s self-driving cars pulled from Californian roads; The Washington Post, October 28, 2023

Trisha Thadani, The Washington Post , The Washington Post; How a robotaxi crash got Cruise’s self-driving cars pulled from Californian roads

"Here in California, the whiplash from approval to ban in just two months highlights the fragmented oversight governing the self-driving car industry — a system that allowed Cruise to operate on San Francisco’s roads for more than three weeks following the October collision, despite dragging a human pinned underneath the vehicle...

Ed Walters, who teaches autonomous vehicle law at Georgetown University, said that driverless technology is critical for a future with fewer road fatalities because robots don’t drive drunk or get distracted. But, he said, this accident shows that Cruise was not “quite ready for testing” in such a dense urban area...

Under the DMV’s autonomous vehicle program, companies are asked to publicly report collisions involving driverless cars only when they are in test mode. That means if an incident like the Oct. 2 crash occurs while the company is technically operating as a commercial service, the company does not have to publicly report it as an “Autonomous Vehicle Collision Report.”"

Librarian feels Alabamians ‘betrayed’ by recommendation to leave American Library Association; Al.com, October 28, 2023

Williesha Morris, Al.com; Librarian feels Alabamians ‘betrayed’ by recommendation to leave American Library Association

"Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) executive director Nancy Pack said in a memo they should “discontinue our institutional membership to the American Library Association (ALA).”...

Matthew Layne, president of the Alabama Library Association, an ALA chapter, said in an email that by disaffiliating from the ALA, the APLS “will lose access to a professional organization with over 50,000 members of professional librarians and library workers from around the world. They will lose access to workshops and training from brilliant librarian leaders, thinkers, and the important collegiality that one experiences in such organizations.”

Pack said in the memo “limiting a child’s access to potentially harmful content or relocating controversial reading materials should not be misconstrued as censorship in any form. APLS recommends that libraries exercise their best judgment when it comes to shelving sexually explicit or otherwise inappropriate materials, regardless of the intended age group, to support a parent’s right to protect their children.”...

In response to Pack’s recommendations, librarian Marylyn Eubank said in a letter sent to the Alabama Library Association, “it is hard to compose a professional response to fear-based, unfounded, reactionary actions. One shakes with anger and the righteous indignation born from years of professional study and development. But shaking with anger doesn’t make the situation better for the millions of Alabama residents (mostly children) who have been betrayed by the very professionals meant to protect their rights.

Eubank said “Alabama kept books used by her black residents separate from books used by white residents” until the 1960s, and today, “funding for libraries is being held hostage by the governor and the state legislature.”

“Pack is simply providing the state what it wants - censorship in exchange for funding,” Eubank said."

Feds Seek Tribal Input on Tribal Intellectual Property Issues; Native News Online, October 28, 2023

 NATIVE NEWS ONLINE STAFF , Native News Online; Feds Seek Tribal Input on Tribal Intellectual Property Issues

"The U.S. Department of Commerce, through the United States Patent and Trademark Office, on Tuesday announced it seeks tribal input on tribal intellectual property issues...

In the upcoming consultation, the USPTO wants tribal input on how to best protect genetic resources, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions as they are being discussed at the World Intellectual Property Organization.

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) were quick to applaud the decision to hold this long overdue consultation...

“The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ rights to their cultural and intellectual property, as well as the obligation for the United States to take measures to protect those rights. It is good that the United States is living up to its obligation to consult with Tribal Nations, and the concern now is to ensure that the consultation is meaningful and actually impacts the United States’ negotiation positions,” explained NARF Staff Attorney Sue Noe.

The Federal Register notice provides details for online webinars to be held in January 2024. Two of the four webinars will be for federally recognized Tribal Nations and two will be for state-recognized Tribal Nations, tribal members, Native Hawaiians, and inter-tribal organizations. The USPTO also invites related written comments, to be submitted by February 23, 2024...

More information is available on the Federal Register."

What Is a Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Library Doing in North Dakota?; The New York Times, October 27, 2023

 Jennifer Schuessler,  The New York Times, October 27, 2023; What Is a Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Library Doing in North Dakota?

"The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, set to open on July 4, 2026, will pay tribute to the 26th president’s “relentless, resilient spirit” and environmental vision. Perched dramatically on a butte, it aims to be “a people’s presidential library,” rooted not in books and archives — there are none — but immersive exhibits that challenge visitors to get, as Roosevelt famously put it, “in the arena.”...

More than a century after his death, Roosevelt remains one of the most popular presidents, celebrated as a man of action, a muscular nationalist, an environmental visionary, a trustbuster or all of the above. He’s a favorite of Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley, Tom Brady and LeBron James. Historians consistently rank him among the top five.

But Roosevelt also saw life as a struggle between the weak and the strong, with whites at the top of the evolutionary heap. Which raises another, thornier question: How do you build an honest 21st-century museum about a figure whose 19th-century attitudes about race, empire and, especially, Native Americans still trail him like a cloud of dust?...

Scott Davis, a former executive director of the North Dakota Indian Affairs Commission, said he immediately texted Governor Burgum when he saw the news. “I was really upset,” he recalled in an interview last month in Medora. After a long conversation, Davis said, the governor raised the possibility of adding a “platform” for Native voices at the library...

A two-page spread in the library’s “Story Guide” lists “sensitive issues,” including Roosevelt’s support for eugenics, his militarism and his often “coarse and fearful” views of Native Americans.

“I don’t go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians,” he said in 1886, “but I believe nine out of every 10 are, and I shouldn’t like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth.”"...

Roosevelt’s conservation policies, the guide acknowledges, “came at a great cost to Native Americans,” who lost access to homes, hunting grounds and spiritual sites.

Still, the historian Douglas Brinkley, a board member and the author of “The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America,” called Roosevelt “a sustainable hero” — imperfect, but possessing virtues and accomplishments that can be built on.

“We’d be a much lesser nation without the efforts of his presidency,” Brinkley said.

Kermit Roosevelt, a great-great-grandson of the president and a board member who teaches constitutional law at the University of Pennsylvania, said it was important to address his ancestor’s ugly attitudes toward Native Americans, as well his broader “atmospheric Social Darwinism.”"

This robot cat offers purrfect companionship for Eugene public library patrons to check out; Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), October 28, 2023

 Rachael McDonald (KLCC), Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB); This robot cat offers purrfect companionship for Eugene public library patrons to check out

"And while anyone can take one home…

“They’re typically for folks who maybe are suffering memory loss or maybe just are living alone and kind of lonely,” Berry said. “But really anyone can check them out. They purr. They meow. They’re really fun to have.”

Berry’s coworker, Heather Sears, a children’s services supervisor, said the staff were so fond of the cats that they also got a couple for themselves. The staff cats are gray and white.

“Because they’re really calming,” Sears said. “There’s research that shows cats purring is therapeutic. So we have a kind of quiet room that we have placed one of our cats. Staff have actually really enjoyed that — maybe you had a stressful part of your day or something’s happened and you just need a moment, and you can come hang out with one of our cats that are here that are not circulating.”...

Cats are part of Library of Things collection

The Library of Things has been around since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Berry says they are always adding to the collection."

An AI engine scans a book. Is that copyright infringement or fair use?; Columbia Journalism Review, October 26, 2023

MATHEW INGRAM, Columbia Journalism Review; An AI engine scans a book. Is that copyright infringement or fair use?

"Determining whether LLMs training themselves on copyrighted text qualifies as fair use can be difficult even for experts—not just because AI is complicated, but because the concept of fair use is, too."

Cruise Stops All Driverless Taxi Operations in the United States; The New York Times, October 26, 2023

 Yiwen Lu, The New York Times; Cruise Stops All Driverless Taxi Operations in the United States

"Cruise said on Thursday evening that it would pause all driverless operations in the United States, two days after California regulators told the General Motors subsidiary to take its autonomous cars off the state’s roads. 

The decision affects Cruise’s robot taxi services in Austin, Texas, and Phoenix, where a limited number of public riders could hail paid rides. Noncommercial operations in Dallas, Houston and Miami were also paused.

Cruise did not say how long the halt will last. Testing of driverless vehicles with a safety driver behind the wheel will continue, the company said."

Maine Mass Shooting Disinformation Floods Social Media as Suspect Remains at Large; Wired, October 26, 2023

DAVID GILBERT , Wired; Maine Mass Shooting Disinformation Floods Social Media as Suspect Remains at Large

"“It’s as if everyone thinks disinformation is a problem, but not for them personally—only for other people,” Caroline Orr, a behavioral scientist and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Maryland who tracks disinformation online, wrote on X, adding: “When 20+ people are murdered in a mass shooting, and the reaction of most people on this website is: ‘How can I use this to push a political agenda?’ or ‘How can I use this to attack XYZ person?’ … that reflects something far more disturbing.”"

With War Raging, Colleges Confront a Crisis of Their Own Making; The New York Times, October 26, 2023

 Frank Bruni, The New York Times; With War Raging, Colleges Confront a Crisis of Their Own Making

"Remember the student complaints about and the subsequent dismissal of an art history lecturer at Hamline University in Minnesota who — after giving students a trigger warning, so they could opt out of class — showed a historically important painting of the Prophet Muhammad? Hamline’s president, Fayneese Miller, defended that sequence of events by saying that to not weigh academic freedom against a “debt to the traditions, beliefs and views of students” is a “privileged reaction.” 

That’s a troubling assertion, as Tom Nichols wrote in The Atlantic: “If you don’t want your traditions, beliefs or views challenged, then don’t come to a university, at least not to study anything in the humanities or the social sciences.”"

Why I let an AI chatbot train on my book; Vox, October 25, 2023

 Bryan Walsh, Vox; Why I let an AI chatbot train on my book

"What’s “fair use” for AI?

I think that training a chatbot for nonprofit, educational purposes, with the express permission of the authors of the works on which it’s trained, seems okay. But do novelists like George R.R. Martin or John Grisham have a case against for-profit companies that take their work without that express permission?

The law, unfortunately, is far from clear on this question." 

New Clarence Thomas ethics questions about forgiveness on luxury RV loan; NPR, October 25, 2023

 Nina Totenberg, NPR; New Clarence Thomas ethics questions about forgiveness on luxury RV loan

"The drip, drip, drip of new ethics questions about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's ethics continued Wednesday. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., disclosed that documents turned over to the committee indicate that Thomas benefitted by having some or all of a $267,000 loan forgiven in order to purchase a luxury RV."

How Americans View Data Privacy; Pew Research Center; Pew Research Center, October 18, 2023

COLLEEN MCCLAIN, MICHELLE FAVERIO, MONICA ANDERSON AND EUGENIE PARK, Pew Research Center; How Americans View Data Privacy

"In an era where every click, tap or keystroke leaves a digital trail, Americans remain uneasy and uncertain about their personal data and feel they have little control over how it’s used.

This wariness is even ticking up in some areas like government data collection, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted May 15-21, 2023.

Today, as in the past, most Americans are concerned about how companies and the government use their information. But there have been some changes in recent years:"

Scholastic backtracks, saying it will stop separating diverse books for fairs in 2024; NPR, October 25, 2023

Rachel Treisman , NPR; Scholastic backtracks, saying it will stop separating diverse books for fairs in 2024

"In a statement issued Wednesday, Scholastic said it will keep in mind the needs of the children it serves as well as educators facing local content restrictions. 

"It is unsettling that the current divisive landscape in the U.S. is creating an environment that could deny any child access to books, or that teachers could be penalized for creating access to all stories for their students," it wrote.

PEN America, the nonprofit organization that supports free speech, acknowledged Scholastic's dilemma and applauded its decision to pivot. 

"Scholastic recognized that, as difficult a bind as this pernicious legislation created, the right answer was not to become an accessory to censorship," Jonathan Friedman, the director of its Free Expression and Education program, said in a statement. "Scholastic is an essential source of knowledge and a delight for countless children. We are glad to see them champion the freedom to read.""

Kentucky school district bans more than 100 books, citing anti-LGBTQ+ law; Louisville Public Media, October 19, 2023

Jess Clark, Louisville Public Media; Kentucky school district bans more than 100 books, citing anti-LGBTQ+ law

"The law is the subject of several legal challenges by opponents who say its restrictions on speech and LGBTQ+ young people violate the state constitution.

Which books are banned?

It is unclear why each book was found objectionable under SB 150, but many of the books banned from Boyle County Schools feature LGBTQ+ characters and themes...

“Anne Frank” by Sid Jacobson is also banned from Junction City Elementary. It’s a graphic novel based on Anne Frank’s “Diary of a Young Girl” and depicts the teen’s hiding during Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

Fifty-five titles have been removed from Boyle County High School. They include many nonfiction books on LGBTQ+ identities, such as “Teens and LGBT Issues,” by Christine Wilcox and “Stonewall: Breaking Out in the Fight for Gay Rights,” by Ann Bausum...

Here is a link to a list of the banned books, originally obtained by The Advocate Messenger."

Sarasota County asked to end ties to library associations over 'ideology, explicit' books; Herald-Tribune, October 25, 2023

Earle Kimel , Herald-Tribune; Sarasota County asked to end ties to library associations over 'ideology, explicit' books

"Citing policies that promote diversity, equity and inclusion, Michelle Pozzie called the ALA part of a “bigger umbrella of three-letter organizations that, believe it or not, push ideology over explicit material and not age appropriate material as well as DEI talking points – which is a pet peeve of our governor, so it should be, as a reflection, for you, too.”

Pozzie, who said she homeschooled two children, said libraries are not safe for children because of books that can found there, including the 2019 graphic novel “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” by Maia Kobabe.

“Let me be clear, no one wants to ban books or censor speech but filth and ideology should not be funded in the taxpayer’s expense,” Pozzie said."