Thursday, August 4, 2011

Cambridge Police, Library Censorship?

Cambridge Police were summoned to the $91 million main branch of the public library on Thursday August 4, 2011 at about 7:00 PM. Library employees share police policy of keeping public information from civilians on the grounds of patron privacy. They refused to reveal why the police were called. When the single uniformed officer left the building he was carrying a plastic container. It may have held a CD or a DVD. Is the Cambridge library now censoring published material? On what grounds? Citing privacy does not make it protected. Civilians who are not in a coma are aware that government officials regularly lie to civilians. Medical professionals who harm humans through negligence or intention cite privacy to withhold information. Only when it is persons with disabilities does privacy go out the window. Journalists, public officials, police and prosecutors regularly reveal with glee their medical records. But when a police patrol car drives up onto the walkway to the door of a public library, city officials do not think it is in the public interest to explain why. Patron privacy trumps the public's right to know?

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