Are we really a free society here in the U.S? Man facing 75 yrs for videoing police!

[Yooperman]

A swat team guns down a two time Iraqi vet in Tuscon, the Indiana Supreme Court rules that a homeowner cannot defend his home from illegal police entry and searching... now we have a man who video taped police in Illinois and may do prison time.

Do you see a pattern here. I do... Does anyone care? Do any of our elected officials Republican or Democratic... really represent us.

I think I will just go fishing... and try to stay out of trouble.

snip>

Michael Allison faces 75 years in prison for recording law enforcement officials without their consent in Robinson, Illinois.

Illinois is one of the states applying old eavesdropping and wiretapping statutes to new technologies like cell phones or anything else that records audio.

Those laws technically make it illegal to record on-duty law enforcement officials without their consent. The penalty for that crime here in Illinois, is a class 1 felony.

<snip


http://mywabashvalley.com/fulltext?nxd_id=190687

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. I definately see a patter.

:grr:

[Yooperman]

3. lol... I did proof read b4 posting .. :-)

Just missed that one......thanks for the heads up.

Peace

Ym

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. We're as free as the amount of scratch in our pockets.

+/- the love of our friends and family.

[xchrom]

7. +1

[FiveGoodMen]

2. Video taping police has to be legal or they can get away with murder

Which, of course, they often do.

I would -- not kidding here at all -- support the death penalty specifically for anyone who has been instrumental in outlawing the video taping of police.

They are enemies of the entire human race.

[Yooperman]

5. I completely concure

Video taping any public event... whether that be a parade, a protest or police doing their job.

Where does surveillance video fall under this interpretation of this law? Could a business be held accountable for the taping of police also.

It just opens a can of worms that is for sure.

Thanks for your input.

Peace

YM

[FredStembottom]

8. Yes. I think the can o' worms aspect.....

...will drive this issue into the courts - maybe many times. Not so much the citizens taking control of a burgeoning police state.

[arcane1]

6. Meanwhile, their dashboard cameras record us whether we consent or not

:grr:

[Yooperman]

11. Yes... and I agree that all police cars have them and use them on every stop...

This protects the citizen as well as the police officer.

There have been many false charges dropped because the police video could not or did not support the claims of the officer.

peace

YM

[truedelphi]

9. Yes, this nation is a JOKE. Just one month ago, a bank had police come

and harass myself and my husband, as the they thought the check we had used to open an account was "hinky."

It wasn't. It was a totally valid check, in fact it was so valid that the funds for the check were already inside my newly opened account, and had been for 18 hours.

The police were allowed to drag me from the bank. The paramedics had just said that I needed to be in a hospital, as the accusations had forced my body to go into a semi-convulsive state.

I am not allowed to have a police report filed against the bank officials. If I was able to, I could obtain a legal remedy against said bank.

This is a police state. We have no real representation in Congress.

We have a tax code that allows major corporations to pay nothing, in fact, they not only pay nothing, they use tax set ups to purchase other entities which they then use as collateral against the debt they owe the government. And then those same deals allow for "losses" so they pay nothing.

The average citizen is foreclosed upon, faces medical bankruptcy if they have a medical problem come up, (unless they don't seek care, in which case they die) etc.

Meanwhile our top officials have the gall to insist on three and four wars at a time, to spread our "democratic way of life" across the globe. What a fucking joke this nation has become.

[Maat]

10. I'm sorry to hear that you went through that experience, TD.

I hope that you were able to change banks!

[Yooperman]

12. Yep....

I can't add anything to what you stated...

:toast: to the so called good life.

Peace

YM

[truedelphi]

15. Happy welcome to DU.

And thank you for the toast.

Between that and some valium I am now on, I jes might make it through today.

[Yooperman]

13. duped post

:toast:

[Gidney N Cloyd]

14. Covert AUDIOtaping is illegal under Illinois eavesdropping/wiretapping laws. Not videotaping.

It's a law that needs some updating but it's not stopping anyone from videotaping cops on cell phones or surveillance cameras.

On edit:
The OP makes that clear but some of the replies were going off the mark.

[woo me with science]

17. Thank you for making this clear.

Yes, it's important to be able to monitor police to ensure they aren't abusing their power.

It's also important to update the audio laws to video, too. First we had Lower Merion School District spying on students in their homes. Now we learn that vendors are selling the same spy software to computer rental companies, and the rental companies are photographing customers at home. I wonder who else has been sold this capability, that we don't know about?

http://www.dailytech.com/PC+Rental+Company+Spied+on+Users+In+Their+Homes+With+Webcams/article21538.htm


I can't find the link right now, but I saw a recent article that mentioned the audio laws you mention. They stated that part of Aaron's attempted defense is going to be that the vendors told them they had no legal obligation to inform the customers about the spyware at all.

[Mosby]

18. most states allow you to record one or the other but not both

its why retailers can have video cameras throughout the store that record video but not audio. The laws however have not kept up with newer systems which record both in real time, so basically there are who knows how many retailers across the country breaking the law every day.

[woo me with science]

16. We are becoming less free,

and the more we are economically impoverished, the less chance we will have of reversing this path.