Reason - The U.S. Supreme Court
declined to review an appeals court decision that blocked
enforcement of the Illinois Eavesdropping Act against people who
record police on the job in Chicago and other parts of Cook County.
Under the law, the strictest of its kind in the country, recording
cops without their permission is a Class 1 felony, punishable by
four to 15 years in prison.
Last May the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the 7th Circuit, responding to a lawsuit by the American Civil
Liberties Union of Illinois,
ruled that the statute "restricts far more speech than
necessary to protect legitimate privacy interests" and "likely
violates the First Amendment's free-speech and free-press
guarantees" when applied to "people who openly record police
officers performing their official duties in public."
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1 comment:
If cops shouldn't be filmed in performance of their duties, then they're doing something wrong and they want no witnesses.
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