Librarianship at the Crossroads of ICE Surveillance

Information capitalism, the system where information, a historically, largely free and ubiquitous product of basic communication, is commodified by private owners for profit, is entrenched in our society. Information brokers have consolidated and swallowed up huge amounts of data, in a system that leaves data purchase, consumption, and use largely unregulated and unchecked. This article focuses on librarian ethics in the era of information capitalism, focusing specifically on an especially insidious arena of data ownership: surveillance capitalism and big data policing. While librarians value privacy and intellectual freedom, librarians increasingly rely on products that sell personal data to law enforcement, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Librarians should consider how buying and using these products in their libraries comports with our privacy practices and ethical standards.

Lamdan, S. (2019). Librarianship at the crossroads of ICE surveillance. In the Library with the Lead Pipe. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2019/ice-surveillance/

Contributor: Marisol Moreno Ortiz, Reference and Instruction Librarian, Clark College Libraries.