Online Social Networking and Intellectual Freedom

presented by ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom

ALA's Interactive Web Applications Wiki

http://wikis.ala.org/iwa/

OIF• 800-545-2433, ext. 4223• oif@ala.org• http://www.ala.org/oif

1. A brief description of interactive Web applications (including online social networking tools)

2. Legislation affecting access to these applications

3. Why denying access to these applications is an intellectual freedom issue

4. Online safety5. What you can do

What are Interactive

Web Applications?

What are Social Networking Sites?

DOPA Deleting Online Predators Act

Requires schools and libraries receiving federal E-rate discounts to block minors' access to many interactive web applications.

DOPA Deleting Online Predators Act

So broadly written it could affect access to instant messaging, online e-mail, wikis, blogs, and more.

DOPA Deleting Online Predators Act

Affects the intellectual freedom of all library users.

What’s wrong with DOPA?

Overly broad and unclear Ignores value of IWAs Education is the key Local decision making preferable to

federal laws Unfairly targets poorest communities

What’s wrong with DOPA?

Overly broad and unclear

What’s wrong with DOPA?

Ignores value of IWAs

What’s wrong with DOPA?

Education is the key

What’s wrong with DOPA?

Local decision making preferable to federal laws

What’s wrong with DOPA?

Unfairly targets poorest communities

Interactive Web Applications and

Intellectual Freedom

“A person's right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.”

—Library Bill of Rights

“Children and young adults unquestionably possess First Amendment rights, including the right to receive information in the library.”—Library Bill of Rights Interpretation: Free Access to Libraries for Minors

“Constitutionally protected speech cannot be suppressed solely to protect children or young adults from ideas or images a legislative body believes to be unsuitable for them.”—Library Bill of Rights Interpretation: Free Access to Libraries for Minors

“Librarians and library governing bodies should not resort to age restrictions in an effort to avoid actual or anticipated objections, because only a court of law can determine whether material is not constitutionally protected.”—Library Bill of Rights Interpretation: Free Access to Libraries for Minors

Supreme Court decisions of note

Tinker v. Des Moines School Dist. West Virginia Bd. of Ed. v. Barnette Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville

“Speech that is neither obscene as to youths nor subject to some other legitimate proscription cannot be suppressed solely to protect the young from ideas or images that a legislative body thinks unsuitable for them. In most circumstances, the values protected by the First Amendment are no less applicable when government seeks to control the flow of information to minors. .”—Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville

“People are unlikely to become well-functioning, independent-minded adults and responsible citizens if they are raised in an intellectual bubble.”—American Amusement Machine Association, et al., v. Teri Kendrick, et al.

“Swimming pools can be dangerous for children. To protect them, one can install locks, put up fences, and deploy pool alarms. All these measures are helpful, but by far the most important thing that one can do for one's children is to teach them to swim.”—Youth, Pornography and the Internet

Especially for Young People and Their Parents

“[S]chools and libraries should be encouraging kids to use blogging and social networking services. They have enormous educational potential . . . but even if not used as part of a formal supervised education program, they encourage kids to communicate and reach out to others.”—Larry Magid, House Misfires on Internet Safety

What You Can Do

Contacting elected officials about issues YALSA’s Teen Tech Week site Create a profile for your library YALSA’s Social Networking Toolkit ALA’s Interactive Web Applications site

What You Can Do

Contacting elected officials about issues

What You Can Do

YALSA’s Teen Tech Week site

What You Can Do

Create a profile for your library

What You Can Do

YALSA’s Social Networking Toolkit

What You Can Do

ALA’s Interactive Web Applications site

“As the District Court found, ‘the content on the Internet is as diverse as human thought’. . . . We agree with its conclusion that our cases provide no basis for qualifying the level of First Amendment scrutiny that should be applied to this medium.”—Reno v. ACLU 521 U.S. 844, 869 (1997)

Online Social Networking and Intellectual Freedom

For more information:• 800-545-2433, ext. 4223• oif@ala.org• http://www.ala.org/oif