Is Chicago really planning on detaining anyone who records protestor arrests at the G-8 summit?

When it comes to recording police behavior, current Illinois law does not consider whether the interaction occurs in public or private Doug Menuez/Thinkstock Images.

~Hat Tip Diamond Dave

Editor’s note: Puppetgov, based out of Chicago, will be there to cover the summit. Silent films say just as much.

By Dahlia Lithwick~Slate

In three months, thousands of reporters from around the globe will descend on Chicago for the G-8 summit. Part of what they will chronicle is the protests and police crackdownsthat have made each annual meeting so newsworthy. Sadly for all these reporters, and for all the American journalists with plans to film the protestors and cops, any effort to audiotape police activity on public streets or in parks is a crime in Illinois—a crime punishable by 15 years in prison.

Illinois, like Massachusetts and Oregon, is famous for having one of the most draconian eavesdropping laws in the country. The New York Times recently profiled two Illinois citizens who ran afoul of the law that makes it a Class 1 felony to audio record a law-enforcement officer, state’s attorney, assistant state’s attorney, attorney general, assistant attorney general or judge in the performance of his or her duties. It is a crime to use any device “for the purpose of hearing or recording all or any part of any conversation … unless [done] with the consent of all of the parties to such conversation or electronic communication. …”

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