Although not Internet related, there is interesting stuff stirring in Illinois…

Under a woefully outdated eavesdropping statute, it is currently illegal in Illinois to tape or video record an on duty police officer. If convicted, it could net you up to fifteen years in prison.  Late last month, HB 3944, an attempt to decriminalize this conduct, failed to pass the Illinois House.

The amendment would carve out an exception to the eavesdropping law by allowing a person who is not a law enforcement officer (nor acting at one’s direction) to “record the conversation of a law enforcement officer who is performing a public duty in a public place and any other person who is having a conversation with that law enforcement officer if the conversation is at a volume audible to the unassisted ear of the person who is making the recording.”

Although the amendment failed, there has been support from judges in Illinois on this issue. Read more about the recent findings by these judges that the law is unconstitutional on MLO’s blog here.