Critical Librarianship, Ethics, and Privacy
Swat Libraries Internship
Lorin Jackson • Sarah Elichko
3/12/21
J. Edgar Hoover
Director of the FBI from 1924-1972. Best known for COINTELPRO surveillance of thousands of US citizens, particularly POCs and activists.
Audre Lorde
Poet, activist, professor, publisher. Author of Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, Sister Outsider, The Cancer Journals, among other books.
what do they have in common?
{ they were both library workers }
Learn more:
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"The FBI Figures Things Out (from "Keeping Tabs"). Backstory [podcast].
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How Hoover used his Library of Congress experience to expand FBI surveillance
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How Hoover used his Library of Congress experience to expand FBI surveillance
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"Audre Lorde, activist, librarian, lesbian and warrior poet." New York Amsterdam News.
- Profile of Lorde published in December 2016
Information ethics
Critical librarianship
Privacy
&
&
Plan for today:
- Consentful Tech zine [discuss]
- Ethics & libraries [concept map]
- Break
- #critlib [read + discuss]
- Privacy [try out tools + strategies]
- Reflect
Consentful Tech
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How do you think this zine connects to librarianship and archives work? (You could consider what you’ve learned in the internship, your own experiences with libraries and archives, etc.)
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What does the zine make you think about your own use of technology?
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Can you think of consentful technology experiences?
break time
#critlib
Choose a #critlib chat and read through the posts.
We'll come back together in ~12 minutes to discuss.
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What are three observations you have about #critlib after taking a look at past #critlib chats?
- Why do you think #critlib is hosted on Twitter/uses the Twitter platform?
Privacy
So...what can you do?
2. Protect your browsing history
Visualize and blocks tracking websites
• Privacy Badger (free from Electronic Frontier Foundation)
• Firefox (browser, alternative to Chrome)
3. Learn as you go
Browser extension that helps make sense of the privacy policy and other terms and conditions on YouTube, Twitter, etc.
1. Start small
Easy adjustments to help share (or not!) your data more intentionally: Data Detox Kit (Tactical Tech & Firefox)
• Try a module: Control Your Smartphone Data, Smartphone Habits, or another one
caveat! This extension will
cause some websites to behave oddly at times.
so: If you have trouble with a website, disable Privacy Badger and reload.
More privacy resources
Firefox extensions:
Facebook Container is a Firefox extension that helps you set boundaries with Facebook. This add-on creates a boundary between Facebook sites (including Instagram and Messenger) and the rest of the web to limit where Facebook can track you.
Works like Facebook Container, but for multiple websites.
Privacy is not about technology -
it's about people.
Episode #53: Share Your Location with ICE? (02/13/20)
High-tech surveillance and the market for data
Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness
Simone Browne (2015)
Duke University Press
Obfuscation
Helen Nissenbaum & Finn Brunton, 2015. MIT Press.
Race After Technology: Abolitionist tools for the New Jim Code Ruha Benjamin, 2019.
Polity Press.
Further reading
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Data Privacy Project
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Don't panic! A First Look at Digital Security
- Zine created by Access Now
- Zine created by Access Now
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Digital Privacy Instruction Curriculum
- Handouts walk through scenarios and contexts
- Created by the Digital Library Federation Technologies of Surveillance Interest Group