Sunday, September 18, 2011

The 1A Still Alive in Illinois

This will have consequences, all of them good!

Allison, who I first wrote about here, was facing up to 75 years in prison for recording public officials with a digital recorder. Those charges have been dismissed.

“A statute intended to prevent unwarranted intrusions into a citizen’s privacy cannot be used as a shield for public officials who cannot assert a comparable right of privacy in their public duties,” the judge wrote in his decision dismissing the five counts of eavesdropping charges against defendant Michael Allison.

“Such action impedes the free flow of information concerning public officials and violates the First Amendment right to gather such information,” he wrote….

In Thursday’s ruling, Circuit Court Judge David Frankland said that Allison had a First Amendment right to record the police officers and court employees.  --Agitator quoting the decision

Good thinking!
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2 comments:

  1. jimspice9/18/2011 10:38 AM

    Does that apply to those dragged from the balcony at the state capitol for taping proceedings as well?

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  2. Dad299/18/2011 10:56 AM

    Personally, like Wiggy, I think it's a stupid rule made only to prevent taping Leggies-Being-Stupid.

    Note: Leggies will still BE stupid, but not on tape.

    So what's the point?

    (Obviously, the definition of disorderly conduct doesn't apply to quietly taping proceedings. OTOH, I'd tolerate DC for less than a millisecond.)

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