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Why do these laws exist? To cover up potential wrongdoing by police and other authorities?
What are the cops in Illinois trying to hide from us?
I don't think public officials doing their jobs on taxpayer time and on taxpayer money have any reasonable expectation of privacy. They have a reasonable expectation of privacy when they are off-duty, on their own time when they go home at night and become private citizens but not in the course of their official duties as public servants.
Good argument. It's understood that dutiies performed do not have the expectation of privacy. The DA appears to be retaliating.
Outrageous. Using the same logic they should take down all of the security cameras that are monitoring and eavesdropping on us. I personally did not give consent for them to record my actions or my words.
Outrageous. Using the same logic they should take down all of the security cameras that are monitoring and eavesdropping on us. I personally did not give consent for them to record my actions or my words.
Absolutely. I hope someone sues the state of Illinois and turning their own screwed-up self-serving laws against them.
This may well be something that the Constitution itself does not really address, and it might end up becoming the subject of a Supreme Court decision at some point.
First of all, the police do not have a constitutional right to privacy when acting in the capacity of their duties as an officer. As it is commonly understood, privacy essentially refers to private conduct by private citizens. Police officers are obviously public figures and the subject of public interest, so they cannot claim defense on grounds of privacy. If states allow it, then there's really nothing officers can do to stop the recording of them.
However, that's not the legal question. The question is, what about states that actually have laws that do prevent ordinary citizens from recording police officers? Are such laws unconstitutional? Are there provisions in the Constitution which make such laws invalid? Do ordinary people have the right to collect information like that? That's the question.
The First Amendment allows freedom of the press. Within this freedom, certain acts are protected. The act of collecting information. The act of publishing information. However, the Courts have also ruled that there are limitations. The free flow of information is mitigated in some circumstances by compelling governmental interest. For instance, courts have ruled that the press cannot publish information which constitutes a 'clear and present danger' to national security. They cannot have special access or privileges that ordinary people don't themselves enjoy.
But those limitations aside, it's not entirely clear where the law stands on something like this. Probably because the prosecutions of such laws have been so few, there isn't much case law on this topic yet. But if this case goes forward, and particularly if it's successful, I would imagine precedents to be established in the not-too-distant future.
My guess would be that, historically speaking, most judges would probably rule that these broad interpretations of the anti-eavesdropping laws are unconstitutional. I could see a court agreeing with police in some situations. For instance, if there was a drug raid or something like that, in which there were covert operations and there was a compelling need for secrecy, I could see the court agreeing with police in banning such recordings. But in a routine traffic stop or when police officers are otherwise in public view? Nah, I think people have the right to have that information.
Now, would guys like Antonin Scalia agree? Maybe not. This is a good time to be a fascist in America.
Why do these laws exist? To cover up potential wrongdoing by police and other authorities?
What are the cops in Illinois trying to hide from us?
I don't think public officials doing their jobs on taxpayer time and on taxpayer money have any reasonable expectation of privacy. They have a reasonable expectation of privacy when they are off-duty, on their own time when they go home at night and become private citizens but not in the course of their official duties as public servants.
Correct! The only reason to outlaw public filming is to cover up bad LE activity... to cover up Rodney King beatings.
It's strange, really. You would think that the good cops would encourage public filming...
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