Data Privacy / Library User Surveillance: Overview

These papers provide some deep context for the issue of library user privacy.

Libraries and librarians have long advocated for user privacy. In an analog world, protecting a user's right to open inquiry without one's interests being examined by others was more straightforward than it is within today's digital world. Today, users often don't know when or how personal data are being collected, and librarians continue educating users in protecting their right to privacy.

The library world took notice when it was revealed that a major library vendor was in the business of selling personal information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). While the company has backed away from this practice, this case illustrates what is possible when for-profit publishers have access and the means to monetize users' personal data.

Accelerated by the pandemic, where the number of remotely-administered exams increased exponentially, use of commercial proctoring software skyrocketed. The question is: How impartial are these systems?