OIF announces Choose Privacy Week online forum participants

CHICAGO - On May 1, the American Library Association and libraries around the country begin their observance of Choose Privacy Week, the annual event that invites everyone to visit their local libraries to learn more about protecting their personal privacy rights in an age of pervasive surveillance. Libraries will offer individuals the opportunity to learn, think critically and make more informed choices about their privacy by offering special resources and sponsoring programs and other special events.

ALA will mark Choose Privacy Week with a special online forum that features guest commentaries by noted privacy experts and advocates. The forum will be part of the "Voices for Freedom" blog, hosted on the newly-redesigned Choose Privacy Week website at www.chooseprivacyweek.org.

Participants include:

• J. Douglas Archer, librarian at the University of Notre Dame and chair of the ALA-IFC Privacy Subcommittee;
• Khaliah Barnes, administrative law counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC);
• Mitra Ebadolahi, Nadine Strossen fellow, the ACLU National Security Project;
• Rachel Levinson-Waldman, counsel to the Liberty and National Security Program at New York University's Brennan Center for Justice;
• Lew Maltby, president, National Workrights Institute;
• Joyce McIntosh, library consultant, editor and former outreach and assistive technology librarian at the Elmhurst Public Library;
• Deborah Peel, MD, Patient Privacy Rights and the Coalition for Patient Privacy;
• Chip Pitts, lecturer, Stanford Law School and former Chief Legal Officer of Nokia, Inc.

In addition to the online forum, chooseprivacyweek.org also features a new, downloadable privacy tip sheet for library users that outlines how they can protect their privacy while using public access computers. The tip sheet is courtesy of Data Privacy Day, the National Cyber Security Alliance's annual effort to empower people to protect their privacy, control their digital footprint and escalate the protection of privacy and data as everyone’s priority. Data Privacy Day is held every Jan. 28.

Choose Privacy Week is a national public awareness campaign that seeks to deepen public awareness about personal privacy rights and the need to ensure those rights in an era of pervasive surveillance. Through programming, online education and special events, libraries will offer individuals opportunities to learn, think critically and make more informed choices about their privacy. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom established Choose Privacy Week in 2010 to help libraries work with their communities in navigating these complicated but vital issues. Privacy has long been a cornerstone of library services in America and a right that librarians defend every day.

For more information on Choose Privacy Week, visit www.chooseprivacyweek.org or contact Deborah Caldwell-Stone in the Office for Intellectual Freedom at (312) 280-4224 or dstone@ala.org. Additionally, you can follow @privacyala on Twitter and visit www.facebook.com/chooseprivacyweek.