Reflections on Life, Liberty and Library Science

Information wants to be free. It wants to be freely sought out, expressed, and received. In fact, the United Nations has declared that humans have a right to seek, receive and impart information. While the First Amendment grants us freedom of expression, and the Freedom of Information Act gives us limited access to government data, the right to seek out and receive information is not guaranteed by the Constitution, even when the information in question happens to be your name or Social Security number.

But don’t take my word for it; just call AT&T and ask them questions like, “How do you use my personal information? Who else have you disclosed this information to?” Let me know how they respond.

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For those of us who saw the Disney movie first, the novel “Something Wicked This Way Comes” by Ray Bradbury is something of a bait-and-switch in reverse–at least, if you are looking for a depiction of a librarian. The most immediate difference is that in the movie, the adult protagonist, Charles Halloway is a librarian; in Bradbury’s novel, he is the library’s janitor! I suppose the powers-that-be at Disney decided that janitors can’t be heros? Have they not seen The Toxic Avenger?

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Earlier this year, Facebook raised the ire of users and privacy rights groups when the social networking company announced updates to its privacy policy, which some interpreted as a declaration of ownership over the media and information uploaded by Facebook users. While the Facebook debacle may be old news, the larger issue of ownership over personal media and information has yet to be addressed in a meaningful way. Thus, the question remains: when we participate as “users” in a cybernated society, whether as Facebook fanatics or AT&T customers, are we (or should we be) allowing these organizations to claim ownership over the information and media we store in their systems? Do all our base belong to them?

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