Christopher Drew got a Felony Rap For Field Recording

[malq]

This one was too creepy to pass up. The creepy part was the law arresting him on an eavesdropping charge, not the guy eavesdropping. he recorded it for crying out loud. Whats the difference between that and a videotape?
I am not the paranoid type, but when the law extends their reach like this it scares me.

A Rogers Park neighborhood man was charged with felony eavesdropping after allegedly taping conversations -- including the voices of officers who arrested him -- without permission while selling art for a $1 Wednesday afternoon in the Loop.

Christopher Drew, 59, of the 1500 block of West Jonquil Terrace, was charged with felony eavesdropping, according to police. He was also cited with two city charges for not having a peddler’s license and peddling in a prohibited area.

Drew was arrested at 103 N. State St. at 1:15 p.m. after officers saw him wearing a red poncho with a sign on the back and front that said, “Art for Sale, $1,’’ according to a police report.

Officers informed him that the area was restricted for peddlers and asked him to stop peddling, as he also did not have a license to sell the art. Drew was taken into custody after telling officers he would not stop, according to the report.

Inside several pockets of the poncho officers found his items for sale and an Olympus digital voice recorder which was recording at the time of the incident without the consent of the responding officers, according to the report.

Belmont Area detectives are investigating.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/19...120309.article

[Siobhan]

If he gets even a decent layer, he'll walk.
Eavesdropping laws are designed to protect one when there is a reason to assume privacy; ie: while on the telephone, or when in one's private home.
There is no assumption of privacy in a public location, nor does one need permission to audio record in a public location; permission is necessary while on a telephone, or in a privately owned location.

[backlash]

I don't understand why you can record surveillance video in your home, but not audio. What kind of sense does that make?

[battery jackson]

i guess i broke the law as a 3 year old with my fisher price tape recorder.

once again:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TiMtDhiJ2o"]YouTube- Nwa - fuck tha police[/ame]