A federal appeals court has thrown out a Massachusetts law that bans the recording of police officers.
Better yet, the court found that police officers are not entitled to official immunity when they arrest people who record them. That means that they can be held personally liable for such actions. (The doctrine of official immunity leads to a form of moral hazard: police can feel free to violate people’s civil rights, knowing that if there are any repercussions, they will be paid by the government rather than themselves.)
Better still, the court found that the Freedom of the Press is not limited to “professional” journalists.
