My Bloomsbury book "Ethics, Information, and Technology" was published on Nov. 13, 2025. Purchases can be made via Amazon and this Bloomsbury webpage: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/ethics-information-and-technology-9781440856662/
"Trustees of thePickens County Library Systemvoted to remove the library’s director with no explanation after nearly two hours of private discussion.
The move comes after library staff were directed by the board toreview more than 86,000 booksin the children’s and teen sections, an effort that is expected to last a year. The librarycanceled a slew of eventsand stopped interlibrary loans to reassign staff members’ time for the review.
Policy changes in Pickens followrecent fightsover the types of books accessible at local libraries nationwide. Many of the debates have surrounded access to books that touch on themes about LGBTQ identity or racism.
During aspecial called meetingthe evening of Feb. 24, the library’s board of trustees voted 5-2 to terminate Executive Director Stephanie Howard effective immediately. Howard, a Pickens County native,started in her role in 2019...
Howard holds a Master of Library Science degree from the University of South Carolina andhas more than two decadesof library management experience.
In 2025, she wasgiven the Intellectual Freedom Award by the South Carolina Library Association. The annual award “recognizes members of our community who have contributed to an awareness of intellectual freedom and censorship issues in South Carolina libraries,” the SCLA description states."
"Defense Secretary Hegseth has threatened to compel Anthropic to give the military free rein with AI, say reports.
A growing rift between the US Department of Defense (DoD) and Anthropic over how AI can be used by the military has led to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issuing a blunt ultimatum: work with us on our terms or risk being banned from Pentagon programs.
According to news site Axios, Hegseth gave Anthropic until Friday, February 27 to agree to its terms during a tense meeting this week. If no agreement is reached, the company would risk being deemed a “supply chain risk,” with Hegseth even threatening to invoke the Cold War-era Defense Production Act to compel cooperation,the reportsaid.
The DoD’s view is that it should be free to use Anthropic’s AI for “all lawful purposes,” regardless of ethical boundaries set by the company itself. Anthropic, by contrast, wants to set narrower guardrails."
"Anthropic, a company founded by OpenAI exiles worried about the dangers of AI, is loosening its core safety principle in response to competition.
Instead of self-imposed guardrails constraining its development of AI models, Anthropic is adopting a nonbinding safety framework that it says can and will change.
In a blog post Tuesday outlining its new policy, Anthropic said shortcomings in its two-year-old Responsible Scaling Policy could hinder its ability to compete in a rapidly growing AI market.
The announcement is surprising, because Anthropic has described itself as the AI company with a “soul.” It also comes the same week that Anthropic is fighting a significant battle with the Pentagon over AI red lines."
"Artificial intelligence video startup Runway AI has been hit with a proposed class action lawsuit in California federal court for allegedly misusing YouTube content to train its video generation platform.
YouTube creator David Gardner said in the complaintfiled in Los Angeles on Monday, that Runway bypassed YouTube's copyright protections to illegally download user videos for its AI training."
Laurence des Cars’s departure is the latest setback for the world’s largest museum. Her tenure was marred by labor strikes, water leaks and security lapses that led to the heist in October.
"Laurence des Cars, the first female president of the Louvre Museum, resigned on Tuesday, less than three months afteran audacious theftraised thorny questions about security at one of the world’s most famous museums.
Ms. des Cars submitted her resignation to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who had appointed her in 2021 and championed her plans for an ambitious refurbishment of the museum, known as “Louvre — New Renaissance.”
The president’s office said in a statement that Mr. Macron had accepted Ms. des Cars’s resignation “as an act of responsibility at a time when the world’s largest museum needs both stability and a strong new impetus to successfully complete major security and modernization projects.”
Ms. des Cars’s resignation came a day before she was scheduled to testify before the French Parliament about thesecurity lapsesthat led to thetheft of a collection of jewels, which were valued at more than $100 million."
"For their final presentations in the Artificial Intelligence and Ethics course at Avonworth High School last month, students each picked a topic to examine through the lens of AI.
Senior Theo Rose chose to look at AI’s role in the art world. On a slide, she showed several images of AI-generated art...
During the past school year, English teacher Scott Tuffiash launched Avonworth’s AI and Ethics class to get students at his suburban public school talking to one another and thinking critically about the technology around them.
“And that way, it's really like, is this what we want? Is this what we need?” he said.
While Tuffiash said he takes a neutral stance on AI, what students in the class think of this now-ubiquitous technology falls along a spectrum...
Tuffiash also worked with John Slattery, executive director of Duquesne University’s Center for Ethics and Science, Technology and Law, to create an AI-centric essay contest for the region’s high-schoolers.
This school year, students from across Western Pennsylvania were tasked with answering the question: “How do we stay human in the age of Al?”"
"In the latest chapter of a closely-watched fitness industry feud, a federal appeals court handed Megan Roup a decisive victory in her copyright battle with rival trainer Tracy Anderson, affirming that Anderson’s dance-cardio routines are not protectable under federal copyright law. In a newly-issued memorandum, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the lower court’s grant of summary judgment in Roup’s favor, concluding that the so-called “TA Method” amounts to a functional fitness system rather than protectable choreography...
The Ninth Circuit’s ruling sends a clear message to fitness entrepreneurs: branding a workout as proprietary, scientific, or even choreographed will not convert a functional exercise system into a protectable work of authorship. For an industry built on personality-driven empires and carefully curated “methods,” the decision makes clear how limited a role copyright can play in safeguarding competitive advantage. With that in mind, parties like Anderson and Roup will have to rely on trademarks, trade secrets, and as this case illustrates, carefully drafted employment agreements, to protect their intellectual capital.
For now, Roup has secured a meaningful appellate win. And for Anderson, whose cult-followed method helped define boutique fitness in the 2000s, the fight continues – albeit on the contract (not copyright) front.
"Following the lead of several major Hollywood studios, the Motion Picture Assn. has sent its own cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, the company behind the controversial artificial-intelligence video generator Seedance 2.0.
The trade association, which represents the interests of major film and TV studios, sent a notice to the Chinese company, reflecting its members’ collective response to “ByteDance’s pervasive copyright infringement.” MPA argues that Seedance’s unauthorized use of copyrighted materials is a “feature, not a bug.”
The letter, sent Friday, marks the first time the MPA has forwarded a cease-and-desist to a major AI firm and represents a further escalation of tensions between the entertainment industry and an AI company."
[Kip Currier: Since 2020, I've taught a "required core course" for the graduate students in the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information. The course is LIS 2040: The Information Professional in Communities. I posted the note (copied below) for my students, with the excerpt from a 2/24/26 Guardian article about the decline of access to mass market paperback books, as accessibility and breaking down barriers are key thematic topics in the course.
My 2025 Bloomsbury book Ethics, Information, and Technologyhas a chapter on Access. Accessibility -- in its various manifestations -- is a recurring issue throughout the book's other chapters, such as those exploring ethical issues of Intellectual Freedom, Intellectual Property, Open Movements and Traditional Knowledge, Social Media, Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies, and more.]
[Kip Currier: The most important take-away in my LIS 2040 course is how we as information professionals (and in our capacities as individuals in our personal lives, too) can help to break down barriers that individuals and communities face. This Guardian article on the demise of the mass market paperback Links to an external site.implicates the ability of people to access information and has a whole host of ramifications, like affordability of books, literacy rates, and platforms for diverse authors and genres.
In the second half of the term, we'll be thinking extensively about ways that we can all work to mitigate and break down barriers of many kinds.]
[Excerpt]
"The so-called ‘pocket book’ sold in supermarkets is being phased out across the US, the latest sign of an ongoing shift in how people are choosing to read
Shelly Romerohas early memories of going to her local supermarket and picking pulp fiction off the shelves. “We were very working class; my mom was working two jobs sometimes,” she recalls. “The appeal of books being cheaper and smaller and able to be carried around was definitely a thing.”
For generations of readers, the gateway to literature was not a hushed library or a polished hardback but a wire spinner rack in a supermarket, pharmacy or railway station. There, amid chewing gum and cigarettes, sat the mass-market paperback: squat, roughly 4in by 7in and cheap enough to be bought on a whim.
But the era of the “pocket book” is drawing to a close. ReaderLink, the biggest book distributor in the US, announced recently that it would stop distributing mass-market paperbacks. The decision follows years of plummeting sales, from 131m units in 2004 to 21m in 2024, and marks the end of a format that once democratised reading for the working class...
"They had that democratic aspect to them where you can just find them anywhere and it always felt like it was the pick ‘n’ mix candy-type store where there is something here for everyone, whether it’s the Harlequin romance novel or something very pulpy like a sci-fi or horror novel that you could quickly get.”...
“We’re definitely losing accessibility and that’s a huge thing right now, especially in this country, whether it’s libraries being defunded, book bannings happening, one person saying let’s get rid of 200 books because I don’t want my child to read diverse authors."
"Chatterjee believes that “the widespread adoption of screens into our children’s lives is the most urgent public health issue of our time”. He was never very political, he says. He is the affable host of a successful health podcast, Feel Better, Live More, and his books strike an optimistic, inspiring tone – but on this issue he is passionate, his frustration obvious. “I think successive governments have been very weak here, and they are failing a whole generation of children. I think they’ve already failed a generation of children.”"
The ads by Public First Action, which started airing on Monday, are part of an escalating political war over artificial intelligence before the midterm elections.
"A new ad campaign on Monday warned northern New Jersey residents that Congress could leave them vulnerable to harm by artificial intelligence.
The ad, which opens with photos of A.I.-generated women smiling on social media alongside A.I.-generated headlines, urged voters to tell their House representative to vote against a bill that would block states from creating protections against A.I. scams.
“He can make sure A.I. serves us, not the other way around,”the adsaid of Josh Gottheimer, the Democratic co-chair of the House’s new A.I. commission, which is expected to heavily influence legislation on the topic. “New Jersey families come before Big Tech’s bottom line.”
The $300,000 ad campaign was paid for by Public First Action, a super PAC operation backed by the A.I. start-up Anthropic. Focused on New Jersey, the campaign is likely to run several weeks — part of several similar initiatives by the group nationally."
"A sneaker company is suingKansas City ChiefsstarsPatrick MahomesandTravis Kelce, along with their restaurant partners, alleging trademark infringement. The complaint centers on their use of the numbers specific to 1587 Prime, the name of their restaurant in Kansas City, according to court records.
Mahomes and Kelce, along with business partner Noble 33, opened their steakhouse last year, combining Mahomes' and Kelce's jersey numbers to give it the name. The sneaker company 1587 Sneakers alleges in the suit that the restaurant name infringes its usage of the identical number combination...
The 1587 Prime trademark is in the bar and restaurant category. The sneaker company's 1587 trademark application is in a clothing category.
"I think it's a tough case for the sneaker company," Gerben said. "Trademarks can coexist in different industries. ... Given that the marks are essentially identical here, is a restaurant and a shoe company too close? Are consumers likely to be confused in thinking they are affiliated with one another?""
He calls the Justices who ruled against him ‘very unpatriotic’ and ‘fools.’
"President Trump owes the Supreme Court an apology—to the individual Justices he smeared on Friday and the institution itself. Mr. Trump doubtless won’t offer one, but his rant in response to his tariff defeat at the Court was arguably the worst moment of his Presidency."
"The University of Utah has entered into a new agreement with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to host a community engagement office on the U campus, strengthening access to intellectual property (IP) education, resources, and expertise for students, entrepreneurs, businesses and communities across the Intermountain West.
Under the agreementannounced Thursday by the USPTO, the U campus will provide a home for a USPTO presence in Salt Lake City, powering a hub for education and outreach under the Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022. The partnership allows the USPTO to immediately begin delivering vital services and building relationships that support innovation, economic growth and inclusive participation in the nation’s intellectual property system."
"Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Adam Schiff (D-CA), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, respectively, sent a letter on Thursday to Director of the American Law Institute (ALI) Diane Wood asking for answers to 14 questions about the latest Copyright Restatement Project.
The letter follows mass resignations from the project last year over concerns about the final approved product. Specifically, key copyright proponents resigned over what one of those who resigned, Copyright Alliance CEO Keith Kupferschmid, referred to as “a general undercurrent of anti-copyright sentiment that…manifests itself through a disproportionate focus on atypical court decisions that limit the scope of copyright protection.”
There has been vocal criticism of the project from copyright circles, including the Copyright Office, for years."
"A judge in New Zealand questioned whether a defendant in an arson case is truly remorseful after discovering that she used artificial intelligence to draft apology letters."
"The big picture: Hollywood is leaning on copyright law to rein in Seedance, but legal pressure hasn't slowed the rise of Chinese AI models more broadly."
"Anthropic wants assurance that its models will not be used for autonomous weapons or to “spy on Americans en masse,” according to a report from Axios.
The DOD, by contrast, wants to use Anthropic’s models “for all lawful use cases” without limitation."
"A dispute between AI company Anthropic and the Pentagon over how the military can use the company’s technology has now gone public. Amid tense negotiations, Anthropic has reportedly called for limits on two key applications: mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. The Department of Defense, which Trump renamed the Department of War last year, wants the freedom to use the technology without those restrictions.
Caught in the middle is Palantir. The defense contractor provides the secure cloud infrastructure that allows the military to use Anthropic’s Claude model, but it has stayed quiet as tensions escalate. That’s even as the Pentagon, per Axios, threatens to designate Anthropic a “supply chain risk,” a move that could force Palantir to cut ties with one of its most important AI partners."
"Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is "close" to cutting business ties withAnthropicand designating theAIcompany a "supply chain risk" — meaning anyone who wants to do business with the U.S. military has to cut ties with the company, a senior Pentagon official told Axios.
The senior official said: "It will be an enormous pain in the ass to disentangle, and we are going to make sure they pay a price for forcing our hand like this."
Why it matters:That kind of penalty is usually reserved for foreign adversaries.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told Axios: "The Department of War's relationship with Anthropic is being reviewed. Our nation requires that our partners be willing to help our warfighters win in any fight. Ultimately, this is about our troops and the safety of the American people."
The big picture: Anthropic's Claude is the only AI model currently available in the military's classified systems, and is the world leader for many business applications. Pentagon officials heartily praise Claude's capabilities."
"The Supreme Court said Tuesday that it will start using software to assist in justices’ decisions to recuse themselves from cases that present a potential conflict of interest.
A brief press release issued by the court described an electronic matching process already used by some lower courts to compare a case’s parties to lists judges assemble of individuals and organizations they have ties to. A 2023 code of conduct statement from the justices said they were considering adopting such a tool themselves.
“This software will be used to run automated recusal checks by comparing information about parties and attorneys in a case with lists created by each Justice’s chambers,” the press release said. “The system was designed and created by the Court’s Office of Information Technology in cooperation with the Court’s Legal Office and Clerk’s Office.”"
"Most of the books the five women have discussed since they started the reading circle last June are classics, and most deal with issues of power, suffering, and the place of women, though they have embraced variety. The works they’ve read include George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, Zoya Pirzad’s I’ll Turn Off the Lights and Symphony of the Dead, also by Abbas Maroufi.
Most of the books can be found online and downloaded free, although occasionally they borrow books from libraries.
They meet every week for an hour-and-a-half at the home of one of the members, varying the location to avoid scrutiny in a country where women’s freedoms have been severely curtailed."
"A federal court gave a final ruling Wednesday negating the Department of Education's 2025 directive that sought to prevent federally funded schools and universities from practicing diversity, equity and inclusion.
The U.S. District Court in New Hampshire issued the ruling that permanently invalidated the "Dear Colleague" letter of Feb. 14, 2025, after the Department of Education backed down from the lawsuit. The letter, signed by Craig Trainor, who was then the acting assistant secretary for Civil Rights at the Department of Education, told schools they had 14 days to comply with the directive or face consequences, including loss of funding. Trainor cited theSupreme Court's2023 rulingonStudents for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard, which effectively ended affirmative action...
District Court Judge Landya McCafferty ruled earlier in the case that the letter's "isolated characterizations of unlawful DEI" conflicted with the term's meaning, saying that DEI is fostering "a group culture of equitable and inclusive treatment."
McCafferty said the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in proving that the letter was vague, viewpoint discriminatory and unlawfully imposed new legal obligations.
Plaintiffs said they were pleased with the decision.
"This ruling affirms what educators and communities have long known: celebrating the full existence of every person and sharing the truth about our history is essential," Sharif El-Mekki, CEO at The Center for Black Educator Development, said in a statement. "Today's decision protects educators' livelihoods and their responsibility to teach honestly."
"While [President Donald] Trump and [Secretary of Education Linda] McMahon want to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion, educators know these values are at the core of our nation," Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, said in a statement. "The Trump administration's unlawful Dear Colleague letter and certification requirement have now been vacated and abandoned, underscoring how badly Trump and McMahon overreached in their attempt to interfere with curriculum and instruction."
"Mr. Zuckerberg’s appearance in court — his first time testifying about child safety in front of a jury — was highly anticipated. Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook and has more than 3.5 billion users, has come under fire as one of the biggest providers of platforms for teenagers. Parents, as well as tech policy and child safety groups have accused the company of hooking young people on its apps and causing mental health issues that have led to anxiety, depression, eating disorders and self-harm...
In internal documents that surfaced in some of the lawsuits, Mr. Zuckerberg and other Meta leaders repeatedly played down their platforms’ risks to young people, while rejecting employee pleas to bolster youth guardrails and hire additional staff...
K.G.M.’s lawyer, Mark Lanier, said during his opening statement this month that Instagram and YouTube’s apps were built like “digital casinos” that profited off addictive behavior. He pointed to internal documents from Meta and Google, which owns YouTube, comparing their technology to gambling, tobacco and drug use. In a 2015 memo, Mr. Zuckerberg encouraged executives to prioritize increasing the time that teenagers spend on Meta’s apps.
Meta said in its opening statement that K.G.M.’s mental health issues were caused by familial abuse and turmoil. The company presented medical records to show that social media addiction was not a focus of her therapy sessions."
"Crackdowns on speech by prominent figures pave a way for the government to regulate speech more broadly, which should be concerning for people of any political leaning because the party and people in power can change."
