Along with Illinois and Maryland, Massachusetts has the most draconian and outdated legislation targeting those who film “public servants”. Case in point the arrests of myself and Ademo and our felony wiretapping charges for filming while in Greenfield last July.

Unsurprisingly such an excessive and illogical punishment is not without major criticism and push-back. Those who claim the right to cage another person for such non-violent, non-victim actions are on the loosing end of this issue in the court of public opinion.

Just this past week an amicus curiae brief was filed with the First Circuit Court of Appeals targeting Massachusetts’s wiretapping statues. Its signers – Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic, the Citizen Media Law Project, The Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association, The New York Times Company and other freedom of speech advocates – filed the brief on behalf of Simon Glik, who four years ago was charged with felony wiretapping for filming Boston cops making an arrest. Though his charges were later dismissed he and those who stand on the side of justice are still working to get accountability and to safeguard this right.

Nice. Hopefully those in Greenfield seeking to put Ademo & I in a cage are paying attention, especially as we have trial this Friday.

For more:

• “The War on Cameras” by Radley Balko about Illinois resident Michael Allison who’s facing 75 years in prison for filming a judge
• “Judge Throws Out Charges Against Anthony Graber” about the dismissal of felony wiretapping charges levied against Maryland resident Graber after he made public a video showing a plain clothes police officer exit his vehicle, gun in hand, and approach Graber in an attempt to stop him from speeding on his motorcycle
• “The “State of MA” aka Todd M Dodge vs. Ademo & Pete Eyre” about the felony wiretapping charges faced by me & Ademo in Massachusetts