Common Rights
August 30, 2011 Leave a comment
Back in 2007, Simon Glik was walking through Boston Common when he saw what he took to be a scene of police brutality. He whipped out his cellphone, held it up and began recording the fracas. The Boston police officers turned their efforts on him and charged him with criminal violation of the Massachusetts wiretap act, aiding the escape of a prisoner and disturbing the peace.
In a resounding decision yesterday, the First Circuit held that police officers who prevent people from recording them in public are acting in violation of the First Amendment. It also held that the police had no probable cause under the wiretap law because the camera, held out in public, was hardly a secret recording.