[Air-L] Join the Internet Filtering Symposium April 26-27, 2022

[Oltmann, Shannon M.]

Please consider joining us for
the Internet Filtering Symposium on April 26-27, 2022

The symposium will be hybrid, based in Lexington, Kentucky, or via zoom. Free registration, hotel and travel information, symposium schedule, and more are all available at the website: https://www.uky.edu/internetfilteringsymposium/home .

The internet is filtered in public schools and public libraries across the U.S., as required by the federal legislation mandating the use of filters to receive E-rate funding for their internet services. Many states also tie funding for libraries and schools to some sort of internet filtering or are reinforcing the use of internet filtering as a claimed remedy for prostitution, human trafficking, and pornography addiction..

The practice of mandating filtering as a prerequisite for funding is so widely accepted that libraries' and schools’ use of the $7.171 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund--just signed by President Biden--is conditioned on the installation and use of filters on all school and library owned laptops and tablets (and possibly mobile hotspots).  But internet filtering may connect with misinformation and disinformation campaigns--is it better to provide an unfiltered, broad array of information to combat fake news, or is fake news the result of an unfiltered “wild west” internet?

Very little is known about the ways in which filtering is implemented, its effects, or the populations who are most impacted. At the symposium, we will discuss these issues and more.

Questions? Contact Shannon M. Oltmann at shannon.oltmann at uky.edu.







Shannon M. Oltmann, Ph.D.
Pronouns: she/her/hers

Associate Professor
School of Information Science
College of Communication & Information
University of Kentucky

shannon.oltmann at uky.edu<mailto:shannon.oltmann at uky.edu>

Editor, Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy

Associate Editor, Library Quarterly