Illinois "eavesdropping" law
Michael Allison from Bridgeport, IL won an important freedom victory when a judge threw out charges against him (total 75 years for recording public officials doing their public work) and ruled Illinois eavesdropping law as unconstitutional.
This draconian law has been used against citizens recording police activity in public, and citizens recording public officials doing public duty.
Originally the law was intended to protect citizens private conversations from being recorded without their knowledge.
Now Lisa Madigan is appealing to the supreme court. Those who love freedom ought to support Michael Allison.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-eavesdropping-law-sidebar-20120102,0,4927964.story
It's also noteworthy that IL is in a small minority of states where filming police in public is illegal without dual consent. Further, most states with "all parties must consent" laws include an exception for recording in public spaces where "no expectation of privacy exists". Illinois, alone, does not.
With the proliferation of YouTube (tm) and other video sites, police have evidently become quite paranoid that their illegal harassment of citizens might be filmed and posted. As the saying goes, it's not paranoia if they really are after you. Personally, I applaud the folks with the courage to film questionable police actions. If the cops can film their interactions with citizens at will, so can we. To criminalize such action is clearly unconstitutional, as several Federal courts have already confirmed.
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