News & Commentary

The Chicago Tribune published an article about the possibility of Chicago Police wearing body cameras as a way to decrease police misconduct in the wake of the events in Ferguson, Missouri. As a result of the growing concern of police brutality throughout the country, body cameras have been considered as a potential solution by creating more oversight and transparency of law enforcement at large. However, the ACLU has suggested some basic privacy guidelines for their use that would address: notice to civilians; when to record; retention of images; and, disclosure of images. The Tribune spoke with ACLU of Illinois Communications and Public Policy Director Ed Yohnka:

ACLU of Illinois senior staff counsel Adam Schwartz joined State Senator Daniel Biss and several privacy experts at the Skokie Public Library for a forum entitled "Rethinking Privacy in a Digital Age."  The event coincided with the signing of the location tracking bill, a key ACLU legislative priority which was sponsored by Senator Biss. Additionally, the ACLU of Illinois has worked with Biss to pass measures that would place sensible regulations on the use of surveillance drones by law enforcement and also privately, by individuals. On the issue of these new technologies, Schwartz stated:

Last Friday, ACLU of Illinois Executive Director participated on a panel reviewing the implications of civil liberties for the recently-completed term of the Supreme Court of the United States. (Spoiler alert: not a lot of good news!)

ACLU of Illinois Communications and Public Policy Director Ed Yohnka recently appeared on local news station WICS-TV via Skype to discuss Illinois law enforcement agencies' use of cell phone tracking technology called "StingRays." The equipment, manufactured by Florida-based company Harris corp., essentially operates by mimicking a cell-phone tower in order to locate individual electronic devices. The ACLU of Illinois has been concerned about this type of technology for some time, and with recent efforts by Florida law enforcement to conceal how they are using StingRays, the concern has prompted WICS to file a FOIA request with Illinois State Police to investigate how the technology is being used in our state.

Sometime today or tomorrow, the Illinois General Assembly ends the 2014 Spring session. We can report to you that a number of priorities advanced by the ACLU of Illinois during this session are on their way to Governor Pat Quinn. Among those measures moving forward:

The Illinois Senate approved the legislation limiting law enforcement agencies’ access to “real time” location tracking data generated by the electronic devices that are now used daily by an ever growing majority of Americans. The ACLU of Illinois supports the bill and points out that in 2011, phone carriers received as many as 1.3 million demands for information about their subscribers, including location-tracking information. The bill, which now goes to the Illinois House, seeks to balance privacy issues with public safety needs. It allows police and other government agencies to obtain a tracking order, similar to a search warrant, based on probable cause of a crime. In an article at Evanston Now, the bill’s sponsor, Senator Daniel Biss (D-Evanston), maintains that:

The Illinois State Supreme Court recently struck down the state's eavesdropping law. The ruling came in two cases where the law's requirement of consent of all parties before a conversation could be recorded had been used in some places to prosecute individuals who recorded conversations that were really not private, or involved recording public officials doing their public duties. The Court found the language of the law was too vague and too broad in permitting these prosecutions. Now, members of Illinois General Assembly must pass legislation in order to put an eavesdropping law in place. The ACLU of Illinois has urged the General Assembly to maintain the important privacy protections in the previous law, protections that protect residents of Illinois against broad government intrusion. Ed Yohnka, ACLU of Illinois Communications Director noted the challenge here:

Legislatures across the nation, including here in Illinois, are considering proposals to address the practice of "revenge porn," where a former partner uploads intimate photos to a website designed to host such images and video.  While the ACLU abhors this practice, we are concerned that some language in these laws go too far.   In particular, free  speech concerns over language in an anti-revenge porn  Illinois State Senate bill remain after the legislation moved out of committee and onto the Senate floor for consideration. State Senator Michael Hastings, the bill’s sponsor, and personal-story testimony presented at committee hearings, advocated for passage of the bill as a means to prevent abusive cyber bullying of an ex-partner in a sexual situation. According to The Chicago Sun-Times, Hastings deflected suggested language modifications to the bill raised by Mary Dixon, ACLU of Illinois' Legislative Director.  Dixon expressed concerns that:

Wrath and revenge, dynamite often thrown back at former partners of a dissolved personal relationship, have morphed with technology and now often appear online as revenge porn.  Across the country, and here in Illinois, legislators have advanced proposals designed to combat the malicious postings of an ex-partner in a sexual situation.  While acknowledging the abusive impact of revenge porn and the need to give victims legal recourse against perpetrators, The Chicago Sun-Times editorial cautions against state legislative action that slaps on criminal sanctions. The editorial, decrying the reality of unchecked revenge porn, notes that: