Choose Privacy Week is coming May 1-7, and it's not too late to plan an event or two for your library and your patrons. Recently, there has been an enormous amount of press attention about FBI efforts to have Apple rewrite its operating system to bypass the security of its iPhones; even more recently about Microsoft's suit against the government to declare gag orders unconstitutional when government agencies subpoena its customers' information from Microsoft; and Uber's revelations that in a six month period, Uber provided government agencies with information that affected over 12 million (that is not a typo) riders and drivers.

This heightened public awareness provides a wonderful opportunity for libraries, bastions of Intellectual Freedom, to offer events that deal with personal privacy in the digital age, a topic that more and more people are becoming concerned about. The American Library Association offers a variety of resources to help promote conversations about what privacy means and how to protect it in today's connected world within libraries and in the wider community. Head over to chooseprivacyweek.org and take a look. 

Jim Campbell
Intellectual Freedom Committee Chair