Many have asked why Chicago's unofficial - but widely read - police blog "Second City Cop" has disappeared? Google tells @wgnnews: "We have taken no action. We see that the blog is still live though the readership access is ¨private."

(2) Some have suggested this is part of an effort by "big tech" to silence certain viewpoints. Google denies making any change to the visibility of the blog. And I would remind you that the blog's host may have switched the settings to "private."

(3) Unfortunately, since the Second City Cop blog is run anonymously we don't have a way to reach the person who controls the site to investigate further. I believe there was a legal case that tried to "out" the operator of the blog a few years back and it failed.

A quick update on the Second City Cop blog going dark:

The person behind the well-read chronicle of cop life indicates he/she pulled the plug for fear Google may out their identity as part of its recent crackdown on certain sites. (1/3)

The person behind Second City Cop tells me:

“We received information from a contact at Google that internal chat/e-mails led them to believe that certain precautions we had taken over the years had been breached by Google.” (2/3)

It appears this is the end of the Second City Cop blog... at least in its current format. The author offered a few “thank you’s” on the way out. Topping the list: Former Supt. Phil Cline who by banning the blog on CPD computers caused viewership to soar!