Not just an Illinois thing. Here's an article on similar cases in Massachusetts: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/01/12/police_fig

Not just an Illinois thing. Here's an article on similar cases in Massachusetts: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/01/12/police_fight_cellphone_recordings/ http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010... (Note that it starts out with spurious arrests, but if you scroll down, it lists a couple of convictions for the crime of "illegal wiretapping", from folks who just recorded the police at work in public.)