A Cook County judge today ruled the state’s controversial eavesdropping law unconstitutional.

The law makes it a felony offense to make audio recordings of police officers without their consent even when they’re performing their public duties.

Judge Stanley Sacks, who is assigned to the Criminal Courts Building, found the eavesdropping law unconstitutional because it potentially criminalizes “wholly innocent conduct.”

via Chicago Tribune.

What the story has wrong is that it’s not just illegal to record police officers; it’s illegal to record ANY conversation where all parties to said conversation are not aware that they are being recorded.

So it’s safe to say that this is not the end of the story.  It’s most likely still illegal to record you telephone calls without letting the party on the other end know.  I wonder what the Illinois legislature will do with this.