The Huffington Post covers the argument held in a federal appeals court on Tuesday, September 13 over the case of ACLU v. Alvarez. The ACLU of Illinois is challenging the application of Illinois’ Eavesdropping Act to the arrest or prosecution of individuals who make audio recordings of public conversations with police, conversations with police who are performing their public duties in a public place and speaking in a voice loud enough to be heard by the unassisted human ear.
"In order to make the rights of free expression and petition effective, individuals and organizations must be able to freely gather and record information about the conduct of government and its agents -- especially the police," Harvey Grossman, legal director of the ACLU of Illinois explained in a statement. "Organizations and individuals should not be threatened with prosecution and jail time simply for monitoring the activities of police in public, having conversations in a public place at normal volume of conversation."
