Chicago has implemented a new system that allows 911 callers the option to upload recordings from handheld devices while calling in their emergencies. The police say that they have already used these recordings as evidence in criminal cases.
This development raises some interesting questions. In Illinois, it is illegal to make an audio recording of any person without the consent of the person being recorded. This is true not only for conversations involving a presumption of privacy, but for any audio recording of any person, even in a public setting.
The law has been nefariously enforced to protect corrupt police officers. Those who catch cops in the act of wrongdoing can be arrested and charged with a felony if they record audio along with video of cops committing crimes in full public view.
So what are we to make of law enforcement encouraging people to record criminal activity and forward it to 911? Are the police warning witnesses that they will be prosecuted if they pick up audio of the criminals or other persons in the area? I wonder how the police would react if someone calls 911 and shares a handheld device recording of police engaged in wrongdoing?
The amendments are being systematically eroded, seems to me. I believe this evolves from the permissiveness of social networking and the mistaken impression that the more 'friends' we have, the better off we are. We have only begun to experience the disadvantages of TMI, after having seen its advantages. Orwell was merely premature, not incorrect.
Posted by: Harold G. Neuman | Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 07:57 PM