Concerned about the "Right to Read"

One issue that I think is particularly important for librarians to maintain and ensure for their patrons is the "Right to Read." During our reading recently, I saw this article and wanted to post it to my blog. It came from (Radreffies' blogs)U.S. Airport Screeners Are Watching What You Read
Free Government Information - Sat, 09/22/2007 - 12:35pm
The "right to read" is essential in a democracy and is abridged when citizens can get "authentic" government information only from government-controlledcomputers.
Stories such as the following two make us even more concerned about privacy and the right to read because they show the lengths to which the government will go when it has any access to information about the reading habits of citizens.
It is particularly revealing that these articles show that the government defends its right to do this by saying that some materials are acceptable and some are not. A DHS spokesman says, "We are completely uninterested in the latest Tom Clancy novel that the traveler may be reading" but the book "Drugs and Your Rights" fell into the category of an item that "leads the inspection officer to conclude there could be a possible violation of the law."
This is precisely the problem. Under these conditions, citizens may fear reading things that they think a low level bureaucrat might find suspicious -- and thus the right to read is abridged.
U.S. Airport Screeners Are Watching What You Read, by Ryan Singel, WIRED (09.20.07)
Collecting of Details on Travelers Documented; U.S. Effort More Extensive Than Previously Knownm by Ellen Nakashima Washington Post (September 22, 2007) y blog. So, here it is: