Ignorance of the law is not a defense, as two Illinois citizens have recently discovered. Christopher Drew and Tiawanda Moore are both facing up to fifteen years in prison for crimes that they did not realize they were committing.  The New York Times recently highlighted the harsh eavesdropping statutes in Illinois by using these two citizens as examples.

Christopher Drew was arrested for selling art without a permit in downtown Chicago, which he intended to do in order to protest the city ordinance requiring permits. However, he now faces Class 1 felony charges, due simply to the presence of a digital video recorder in one of his bags during the arrest. He explains the encounter, in which police officers discovered that the recording device was on and had been recording the entire incident, in this video. The Illinois Eavesdropping Act contains various levels of offenses. Drew was charged with a Class 1 offense, which prohibits audio-recording of a law enforcement officer, state’s attorney, assistant state’s attorney, attorney general, assistant attorney general or judge in the performance of his or her duties.

Tiawanda Moore filed a sexual harassment claim against a police officer.  Naturally, she was already feeling leery of law enforcement and did not trust the Internal Affairs investigators, so she decided to record her meeting with them “to show how they’re not helping her.” She used her Blackberry, and was subsequently arrested under the Illinois Eavesdropping Act once the recording was discovered by the investigators.

While the penalty for recording public officials is the harshest, other offenses under the Act could easily affect many Illinois citizens without knowledge of the law. Audio-recording a private or public conversation with a civilian, without the consent of all parties to the conversation, is a Class 4 felony punishable by up to three years in prison.  The ACLU filed a lawsuit to challenge the Illinois Eavesdropping Act in federal court, but it was dismissed for the second time on January 10th.

These harsh penalties present challenges to modern technology. Most cell phones now have audio and/or video recording capabilities, and many people also utilize digital video recorders.  In fact, uploading videos to YouTube, Facebook, or blogging sites is common, and people are enticed to share their experiences with others.  However, quickly turning on a video recording device to capture the moment could put Illinois citizens in prison. In this era, where legitimate news organizations like CNN or local newspapers encourage citizens to become reporters by taping and publishing “eyewitness news,”  Illinois’ eavesdropping statutes could put these citizen-reporters in prison.