Public librarians uphold an ethical commitment to protect the intellectual freedom of their patrons, but when information is accessed online, users become vulnerable to censorship and surveillance. The public library is a democratic institution in which patrons should be able to interact with information free of restriction or judgment, and this right is threatened by the conflict between access and privacy. Librarians must reject the notion that they are neutral and instead adopt a political stance in defense of intellectual freedom, a framework for which can be found within the theory of progressive librarianship.

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