In 1994 Illinois amended its Eavesdropping Law to make it broader. Over time it has joined “Americas Dumbest Laws” because you can be charged with a felony for tape recording yourself in public if another person is taped in conversation with you without their consent. A Felony! On December 9th a judge in Cook County dropped the misdemeanor charges Drew was arrested for and found probable cause for the Felony Eavesdropping charges the police and States Attorney have leveled against him after his arrest.

The ugly part of this overly broad law is that it is used in the State of Illinois to squash dissent and quiet speech. This is the law Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office used to charge animal activist Steve Hindi in 2000. He was found innocent of the charge. It was the Eavesdropping law that Elizabeth Dobson, a former assistant state’s attorney from Champaign County used to attempt to silence the organizing activity of Martel Miller and Patrick Thompson in the African American community in that region. They later sued the County in Federal Court. It is this law that the Cook County’s State’s Attorney is using to silence my out spoken voice for artists’ rights.

If they succeed they will destroy my life. They will educate a new generation of artist activists on how to better confront the City. They will make Chicago laughed at around the world for beating up on its street artists. They will prove Chicago is not yet a world class city because it limits dissent through injustice. They will not destroy the ideas they are afraid of.

Ha! So you say. My husband just spent an entire day on the job with an ABC tv crew and aparently went off on a rant that had something to do with the last can of Diet Mt. Dew on board the plane being his personal “crack” or something which will all be aired sometime after April 12th. We are going to have to move after this one. He survived the BBC and Atlantic Monthly. This time? I think my luck ran out. It’s not the cop fearing the canera, it’s the cop’s family that fears it.

It really is bad. Even though all those cases were dropped, you know damn well those citizens will think twice before videotaping a cop again, which means they have been intimidated into giving up their First Amendment rights.

Law-abiding citizens should not fear cops.

And cops should not fear being filmed.

I appreciate your support and the fact you read my blog. That is priceless to me.

Ms Calabaza,

I do not have a legal fund, but I am considering setting something up because this has really put me in debt.

I wish i could donate to your legal fund, but my only available form of support is saying “i know you’ll come out on top”

what is this country turning in to.