ACLU of Illinois senior staff counsel Adam Schwartz was interviewed on the WBEZ program "Morning Shift" about the measure passed in the Illinois General Assembly last week. The bill aims to replace the Illinois Eavesdropping Act, which was ruled unconstitutional by the Illinois Supreme Court last Spring. The new measure will allow for the audio recording of public officials doing their public duty in a public place, but will require a warrant or all-party consent for any conversation deemed to have a reasonable expectation of privacy. The ACLU of Illinois opposed the measure because it allows too many exceptions to law enforcement for instances where they would be allowed to record private conversations without obtaining a warrant. You can listen to the segment below:

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The Chicago Tribune has an editorial that builds on its investigative series "Harsh Treatment," which looks at the failure of the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) to care for children placed in treatment centers across the state. For the past 20 years, the ACLU of Illinois has been involved in litigation to improve care and services for children in DCFS custody. Although the number of children in DCFS custody has declined over the years, it is clear from the Tribune's reporting that the quality of care and services provided to them is on the decline.

The ACLU says it's pleased that more children are in safe, permanent homes, but the well-being of those in state custody has worsened in recent years. Associate Legal Director Ben Wolf says the ACLU is prepared to go back to court to enforce the consent decree.

Read the editorial.

Communications and Public Policy Director Ed Yohnka discussed the ACLU's concerns with the use of "stingray" technology by the Chicago Police Department (CPD) in a recent segment on WBEZ. Stingrays operate by mimicking a cellphone tower, and have the ability to access their owner's locations and other identifying information. Given the potential threat to privacy that the use of such technology by law enforcement has had in other states, the ACLU of Illinois will continue monitor the issue. Ed Yohnka stated:

“We know that this technology has been used in connection with protests in other places,” Yohnka said. “I don’t know whether or not that’s been used in Chicago. I would say that if this technology is being used to track people, if there are technologies that are being used to collect large swaths of communication, those are things that are very troubling and very wrong and I think people would rightly be concerned about them.”

Read the rest and listen to the segment.