It's instructive to look at why the ACLU went from supporting to not supporting the statute in RI: Supporters of the bill included the Rhode Island chapter of

It's instructive to look at why the ACLU went from supporting to not supporting the statute in RI: Supporters of the bill included the Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Steven Brown, the ACLU chapter’s executive director, said the organization’s support was based on the “privacy values in not having these often very intimate types of calls just available to everybody in the public.” But over the years, the interpretation of the law by the courts has been “problematic,” Brown said, because judges have denied access to 911 recordings even when they would serve the public interest. He said the ACLU would support adding a “good cause mechanism” in the law to allow for the release of 911 calls if it can be shown that there is an “important public service in knowing what’s in those calls.”