(720 ILCS 5/14‑1)(from Ch. 38, par. 14‑1) Sec. 14‑1. Definition. (a) Eavesdropping device. An eavesdropping device is any device capable of being used to hear or
record oral conversation or intercept, retain, or transcribe electronic
communications whether such conversation or electronic communication is
conducted in person,
by telephone, or by any other means; Provided, however, that this
definition shall not include devices used for the restoration of the deaf
or hard‑of‑hearing to normal or partial hearing. (b) Eavesdropper. An eavesdropper is any person, including law enforcement officers, who is a
principal, as defined in this Article, or who
operates or participates in the operation of any eavesdropping device
contrary to the provisions of this Article. (c) Principal. A principal is any person who: (1) Knowingly employs another who illegally uses an
eavesdropping device in the course of such employment; or
(2) Knowingly derives any benefit or information
from the illegal use of an eavesdropping device by another; or
(3) Directs another to use an eavesdropping device
illegally on his behalf.
(d) Conversation. For the purposes of this Article, the term conversation means any oral
communication between 2 or more persons regardless of whether one or more of
the parties intended their communication to be of a private nature under
circumstances justifying that expectation. (e) Electronic communication. For purposes of this Article, the term electronic communication means any
transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of
any nature transmitted in whole or part by a wire, radio, pager, computer,
electromagnetic, photo electronic or photo optical system, where the sending
and receiving parties intend the electronic communication to be private and the
interception, recording, or transcription of the electronic communication is
accomplished by a device in a surreptitious manner contrary to the provisions
of this Article. Electronic communication does not include any communication
from a tracking device. (Source: P.A. 91‑657, eff. 1‑1‑00.)
(720 ILCS 5/14‑2)(from Ch. 38, par. 14‑2) Sec. 14‑2. Elements of the offense; affirmative defense. (a) A person commits eavesdropping when he: (1) Knowingly and intentionally uses an
eavesdropping device for the purpose of hearing or recording all or any part of any conversation or intercepts, retains, or transcribes electronic communication unless he does so (A) with the consent of all of the parties to such conversation or electronic communication or (B) in accordance with Article 108A or Article 108B of the "Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963", approved August 14, 1963, as amended; or
(2) Manufactures, assembles, distributes, or
possesses any electronic, mechanical, eavesdropping, or other device knowing that or having reason to know that the design of the device renders it primarily useful for the purpose of the surreptitious hearing or recording of oral conversations or the interception, retention, or transcription of electronic communications and the intended or actual use of the device is contrary to the provisions of this Article; or
(3) Uses or divulges, except as authorized by this
Article or by Article 108A or 108B of the "Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963", approved August 14, 1963, as amended, any information which he knows or reasonably should know was obtained through the use of an eavesdropping device.
(b) It is an affirmative defense to a charge brought under this
Article relating to the interception of a privileged communication that the
person charged: 1. was a law enforcement officer acting pursuant to
an order of interception, entered pursuant to Section 108A‑1 or 108B‑5 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963; and
2. at the time the communication was intercepted,
the officer was unaware that the communication was privileged; and
3. stopped the interception within a reasonable time
after discovering that the communication was privileged; and
4. did not disclose the contents of the
communication.
(c) It is not unlawful for a manufacturer or a supplier of
eavesdropping devices, or a provider of wire or electronic communication
services, their agents, employees, contractors, or venders to manufacture,
assemble, sell, or possess an eavesdropping device within the normal course of
their business for purposes not contrary to this Article or for law enforcement
officers and employees of the Illinois Department of Corrections to
manufacture, assemble, purchase, or possess an eavesdropping device
in preparation for or within the course of their official duties. (d) The interception, recording, or transcription of an electronic
communication by an employee of a penal institution is not
prohibited under this Act, provided that the interception, recording, or
transcription is: (1) otherwise legally permissible under Illinois law; (2) conducted with the approval of the penal
institution for the purpose of investigating or enforcing a State criminal law or a penal institution rule or regulation with respect to inmates in the institution; and
(3) within the scope of the employee's official
duties.
For the purposes of this subsection (d), "penal
institution" has the meaning ascribed to it in clause (c)(1) of Section 31A‑1.1.
(Source: P.A. 94‑183, eff. 1‑1‑06.)
(720 ILCS 5/14‑3)(from Ch. 38, par. 14‑3) Sec. 14‑3. Exemptions. The following activities shall be
exempt from the provisions of this Article: (a) Listening to radio, wireless and television communications of
any sort where the same are publicly made; (b) Hearing conversation when heard by employees of any common
carrier by wire incidental to the normal course of their employment in
the operation, maintenance or repair of the equipment of such common
carrier by wire so long as no information obtained thereby is used or
divulged by the hearer; (c) Any broadcast by radio, television or otherwise whether it be a
broadcast or recorded for the purpose of later broadcasts of any
function where the public is in attendance and the conversations are
overheard incidental to the main purpose for which such broadcasts are
then being made; (d) Recording or listening with the aid of any device to any
emergency communication made in the normal course of operations by any
federal, state or local law enforcement agency or institutions dealing
in emergency services, including, but not limited to, hospitals,
clinics, ambulance services, fire fighting agencies, any public utility,
emergency repair facility, civilian defense establishment or military
installation; (e) Recording the proceedings of any meeting required to be open by
the Open Meetings Act, as amended; (f) Recording or listening with the aid of any device to incoming
telephone calls of phone lines publicly listed or advertised as consumer
"hotlines" by manufacturers or retailers of food and drug products. Such
recordings must be destroyed, erased or turned over to local law
enforcement authorities within 24 hours from the time of such recording and
shall not be otherwise disseminated. Failure on the part of the individual
or business operating any such recording or listening device to comply with
the requirements of this subsection shall eliminate any civil or criminal
immunity conferred upon that individual or business by the operation of
this Section; (g) With prior notification to the State's Attorney of the
county in which
it is to occur, recording or listening with the aid of any device to any
conversation
where a law enforcement officer, or any person acting at the direction of law
enforcement, is a party to the conversation and has consented to it being
intercepted or recorded under circumstances where the use of the device is
necessary for the protection of the law enforcement officer or any person
acting at the direction of law enforcement, in the course of an
investigation
of a forcible felony, a felony violation of the Illinois Controlled Substances
Act, a felony violation of the Cannabis Control Act, a felony violation of the Methamphetamine Control and Community Protection Act, or any "streetgang
related" or "gang‑related" felony as those terms are defined in the Illinois
Streetgang Terrorism Omnibus Prevention Act.
Any recording or evidence derived
as the
result of this exemption shall be inadmissible in any proceeding, criminal,
civil or
administrative, except (i) where a party to the conversation suffers great
bodily injury or is killed during such conversation, or
(ii)
when used as direct impeachment of a witness concerning matters contained in
the interception or recording. The Director of the
Department of
State Police shall issue regulations as are necessary concerning the use of
devices, retention of tape recordings, and reports regarding their
use; (g‑5) With approval of the State's Attorney of the county in
which it is to occur, recording or listening with the aid of any device to any
conversation where a law enforcement officer, or any person acting at the
direction of law enforcement, is a party to the conversation and has consented
to it being intercepted or recorded in the course of an investigation of any
offense defined in Article 29D of this Code.
In all such cases, an application for an order approving
the previous or continuing use of an eavesdropping
device must be made within 48 hours of the commencement of
such use. In the absence of such an order, or upon its denial,
any continuing use shall immediately terminate.
The Director of
State Police shall issue rules as are necessary concerning the use of
devices, retention of tape recordings, and reports regarding their use. Any recording or evidence obtained or derived in the course of an
investigation of any offense defined in Article 29D of this Code shall, upon
motion of the State's Attorney or Attorney General prosecuting any violation of
Article 29D, be reviewed in camera with notice to all parties present by the
court presiding over the criminal
case, and, if ruled by the court to be relevant and otherwise admissible,
it shall be admissible at the trial of the criminal
case. This subsection (g‑5) is inoperative on and after January 1, 2005.
No conversations recorded or monitored pursuant to this subsection (g‑5)
shall be inadmissible in a court of law by virtue of the repeal of this
subsection (g‑5) on January 1, 2005; (h) Recordings made simultaneously with a video recording of an oral
conversation between a peace officer, who has identified his or her office, and
a person stopped for an investigation of an offense under the Illinois Vehicle
Code; (i) Recording of a conversation made by or at the request of a person, not a
law enforcement officer or agent of a law enforcement officer, who is a party
to the conversation, under reasonable suspicion that another party to the
conversation is committing, is about to commit, or has committed a criminal
offense against the person or a member of his or her immediate household, and
there is reason to believe that evidence of the criminal offense may be
obtained by the recording; (j) The use of a telephone monitoring device by either (1) a
corporation or other business entity engaged in marketing or opinion research
or (2) a corporation or other business entity engaged in telephone
solicitation, as
defined in this subsection, to record or listen to oral telephone solicitation
conversations or marketing or opinion research conversations by an employee of
the corporation or other business entity when: (i) the monitoring is used for the purpose of
service quality control of marketing or opinion research or telephone solicitation, the education or training of employees or contractors engaged in marketing or opinion research or telephone solicitation, or internal research related to marketing or opinion research or telephone solicitation; and
(ii) the monitoring is used with the consent of at
least one person who is an active party to the marketing or opinion research conversation or telephone solicitation conversation being monitored.
No communication or conversation or any part, portion, or aspect of the
communication or conversation made, acquired, or obtained, directly or
indirectly,
under this exemption (j), may be, directly or indirectly, furnished to any law
enforcement officer, agency, or official for any purpose or used in any inquiry
or investigation, or used, directly or indirectly, in any administrative,
judicial, or other proceeding, or divulged to any third party. When recording or listening authorized by this subsection (j) on telephone
lines used for marketing or opinion research or telephone solicitation purposes
results in recording or
listening to a conversation that does not relate to marketing or opinion
research or telephone solicitation; the
person recording or listening shall, immediately upon determining that the
conversation does not relate to marketing or opinion research or telephone
solicitation, terminate the recording
or listening and destroy any such recording as soon as is practicable. Business entities that use a telephone monitoring or telephone recording
system pursuant to this exemption (j) shall provide current and prospective
employees with notice that the monitoring or recordings may occur during the
course of their employment. The notice shall include prominent signage
notification within the workplace. Business entities that use a telephone monitoring or telephone recording
system pursuant to this exemption (j) shall provide their employees or agents
with access to personal‑only telephone lines which may be pay telephones, that
are not subject to telephone monitoring or telephone recording. For the purposes of this subsection (j), "telephone solicitation" means a
communication through the use of a telephone by live operators: (i) soliciting the sale of goods or services; (ii) receiving orders for the sale of goods or
services;
(iii) assisting in the use of goods or services; or (iv) engaging in the solicitation, administration,
or collection of bank or retail credit accounts.
For the purposes of this subsection (j), "marketing or opinion research"
means
a marketing or opinion research interview conducted by a live telephone
interviewer engaged by a corporation or other business entity whose principal
business is the design, conduct, and analysis of polls and surveys measuring
the
opinions, attitudes, and responses of respondents toward products and services,
or social or political issues, or both; (k) Electronic recordings, including but not limited to, a motion picture,
videotape, digital, or other visual or audio recording, made of a custodial
interrogation of an individual at a police station or other place of detention
by a law enforcement officer under Section 5‑401.5 of the Juvenile Court Act of
1987 or Section 103‑2.1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963; and (l) Recording the interview or statement of any person when the person
knows that the interview is being conducted by a law enforcement officer or
prosecutor and the interview takes place at a police station that is currently
participating in the Custodial Interview Pilot Program established under the
Illinois Criminal Justice Information Act. (Source: P.A. 93‑206, eff. 7‑18‑03; 93‑517, eff. 8‑6‑03; 93‑605, eff. 11‑19‑03; 94‑556, eff. 9‑11‑05.)
(720 ILCS 5/14‑3A) Sec. 14‑3A. Recordings, records, and custody. (a) Any private oral communication intercepted in accordance with subsection
(g) of Section 14‑3 shall, if practicable, be recorded by tape or other
comparable method. The recording shall, if practicable, be done in such a way
as will protect it from editing or other alteration. During an interception,
the interception shall be carried out by a law enforcement officer, and the
officer shall keep a signed, written record, including: (1) The day and hours of interception or recording; (2) The time and duration of each intercepted
communication;
(3) The parties, if known, to each intercepted
communication; and
(4) A summary of the contents of each intercepted
communication.
(b) Both the written record of the interception or recording and any and all
recordings of the interception or recording shall immediately be inventoried
and shall be maintained where the chief law enforcement officer of the county
in which the interception or recording occurred directs. The written records
of the interception or recording conducted under subsection (g)
of Section 14‑3 shall not be destroyed except upon an order of a court of
competent jurisdiction and in any event shall be kept for 10 years. (Source: P.A. 88‑677, eff. 12‑15‑94.)
(720 ILCS 5/14‑3B) Sec. 14‑3B. Notice of interception or recording. (a) Within a reasonable time, but not later than 60 days after the
termination of the investigation for which the interception or recording was
conducted, or immediately upon the initiation of
criminal proceedings, the person who was the subject of an interception or
recording under subsection (g) of Section 14‑3 shall be served with an
inventory that shall include: (1) Notice to any person who was the subject of the
interception or recording;
(2) Notice of any interception or recording if the
defendant was arrested or indicted or otherwise charged as a result of the interception of his or her private oral communication;
(3) The date of the interception or recording; (4) The period of interception or recording; and (5) Notice of whether during the period of
interception or recording devices were or were not used to overhear and record various conversations and whether or not the conversations are recorded.
(b) A court of competent jurisdiction, upon filing of a motion, may in its
discretion make available to those persons or their attorneys for inspection
those portions of the intercepted communications as the court determines to be
in the interest of justice. (Source: P.A. 88‑677, eff. 12‑15‑94.)
(720 ILCS 5/14‑4)(from Ch. 38, par. 14‑4) Sec. 14‑4. Sentence. (a) Eavesdropping, for a first offense, is a Class 4 felony and, for a
second or subsequent offense, is a Class 3 felony. (b) The eavesdropping of an oral conversation or an electronic
communication between any law enforcement officer, State's Attorney, Assistant
State's Attorney, the Attorney General, Assistant Attorney General, or a judge,
while in the performance of his or her official duties, if not authorized by
this Article or proper court order, is a Class 1 felony. (Source: P.A. 91‑357, eff. 7‑29‑99; 91‑657, eff. 1‑1‑00.)
(720 ILCS 5/14‑5)(from Ch. 38, par. 14‑5) Sec. 14‑5. Evidence
inadmissible. Any evidence obtained in violation of this Article is not admissible in
any civil or criminal trial, or any administrative or legislative inquiry
or proceeding, nor in any grand jury proceedings; provided, however, that
so much of the contents of an alleged unlawfully intercepted, overheard or
recorded conversation as is clearly relevant, as determined as a matter of
law by the court in chambers, to the proof of such allegation may be
admitted into evidence in any criminal trial or grand jury proceeding
brought against any person charged with violating any provision of this
Article. (Source: Laws 1965, p. 3198.)
(720 ILCS 5/14‑6)(from Ch. 38, par. 14‑6) Sec. 14‑6. Civil
remedies to injured parties.
(1) Any or all parties to any conversation upon which eavesdropping is
practiced contrary to this Article shall be entitled to the following
remedies: (a) To an injunction by
the circuit court
prohibiting
further eavesdropping by the eavesdropper and by or on behalf of his
principal, or either; (b) To all actual damages against the eavesdropper or his principal or
both; (c) To any punitive damages which may be awarded by the court or by a
jury; (d) To all actual damages against any landlord, owner or building
operator, or any common carrier by wire who aids, abets, or knowingly
permits the eavesdropping concerned; (e) To any punitive damages which may be awarded by the court or by a
jury against any landlord, owner or building operator, or common carrier by
wire who aids, abets, or knowingly permits the eavesdropping concerned. (2) No cause of action shall lie in any court against any common
carrier by wire or its officers, agents or employees for providing
information, assistance or facilities in accordance with the terms of a
court order entered under Article 108A of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963. (Source: P.A. 85‑868.)
(720 ILCS 5/14‑7)(from Ch. 38, par. 14‑7) Sec. 14‑7. Common
carrier to aid in detection. Subject to regulation by the Illinois Commerce Commission, any common
carrier by wire shall, upon request of any subscriber and upon responsible
offer to pay the reasonable cost thereof, furnish whatever services may be
within its command for the purpose of detecting any eavesdropping involving
its wires which are used by said subscriber. All such requests by
subscribers shall be kept confidential unless divulgence is authorized in
writing by the requesting subscriber. (Source: Laws 1961, p. 1983.)
(720 ILCS 5/14‑8)(from Ch. 38, par. 14‑8) Sec. 14‑8. Discovery of eavesdropping device by an individual,
common carrier, private investigative agency or non‑governmental
corporation). Any agent, officer or employee of a private investigative
agency or non‑governmental corporation, or of a common carrier by wire,
or any individual, who discovers any physical evidence of an
eavesdropping device being used which such person does not know to be a
legal eavesdropping device shall, within a reasonable time after such
discovery disclose the existence of such eavesdropping device to the
State's Attorney of the county where such device was found. The State's
Attorney shall within a reasonable time notify the person or persons
apparently being eavesdropped upon of the existence of that device if
the device is illegal. A violation of this Section is a Business
Offense for which a fine shall be imposed not to exceed $500. (Source: P.A. 79‑984; 79‑1454.)
(720 ILCS 5/14‑9)(from Ch. 38, par. 14‑9) Sec. 14‑9. Discovery of eavesdropping device by common carrier by wire
‑ disclosure to subscriber.) Any agent, officer or employee of any common
carrier by wire who discovers any physical evidence of an eavesdropping
device which such person does not know to be a legal eavesdropping device
shall, within a reasonable time after such discovery, disclose the existence
of the eavesdropping device to the State's Attorney of the County where
such device was found. The State's Attorney shall within a reasonable time
notify the person or persons apparently being eavesdropped upon of the existence
of that device if the device is illegal. A violation of this Section is
a Business Offense for which a fine shall be imposed not to exceed $500. (Source: P.A. 79‑985.)
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