By Maura Zurick Clout Street
2:19 p.m. CDT, May 9, 2014
SPRINGFIELD — Illinoisans would have fewer worries about private drones randomly shooting pictures and turning over their surveillance to police for prosecution purposes under legislation sent to the governor today.
House lawmakers’ 103-0 vote drew praise from the American Civil Liberties Union for what it said would be the “most far-reaching regulation of the use of drones by law enforcement in the nation.”
The measure aims to make sure police “cannot simply turn to the growing army of private drone operators to conduct surveillance and evade the current law’s regulations,” said Mary Dixon, a lobbyist for the ACLU’s Illinois chapter.