Week 5 Reading Response

I found this week's readings particularly fascinating. There seemed to be two different issues at play in the articles assigned: that of the right of individuals to the privacy of their personal information, and that of the right of individuals to dictate the use of their bodily materials. "Access to Online Local Government Public Records" by David S. Byrne dealt with what I felt was a more straightforward issue regarding people's rights to privacy. The issue in the article was mainly that local and state governments have to figure out how to maintain the privacy of individuals while still providing access to public records and maintaining transparency in government. While this article focused on governmental organizations, this is also an issue that librarians must deal with. What type of information regarding library patrons, if any, should be made available to the public? From what I've learned so far this semester, most libraries err on the side of privacy, and do not divulge any personal information about their patrons. This was evidenced in the section in This Book is Overdue, which told the story of the librarians who refused to provide information to the FBI on their patron's internet use.

The other two articles, in my opinion, brought up issues that are much more complex and do not seem to have any relatively easy solutions. They dealt with the use of human tissue in medical research. In such cases, the issue is not basic privacy; both articles describe how there is a general agreement that donors of tissues have the right to maintain anonymity. The bigger issue here, it seems, is autonomy, meaning whether or not individual donors have the right to decide the specific uses of their tissues after they are removed. I feel as though I lack the proper knowledge of law and property issues to take a very firm stance on this issue. As the article "Body of Research" by R. Alta Charo indicates, both sides have strengths and weaknesses. I do think that people should have the right to determine how their donated tissues are used. However, it would be problematic to label one's body as personal property. As Charo describes, doing so would possibly prevent the use of long-deceased cadavers in scientific research because they would become the property of their ancestors. I look forward to the discussion on this topic, because I'm sure I will hear many points of view that I haven't even considered.