Massachusetts v. Lowney [1]

Peter Lowney, a political activist from Newton, Massachusetts, was convicted in December 2007 of violating the Massachusetts wiretapping statute (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 272, § 99 [2]) and sentenced to six months probation and fined $500. The criminal case arose out of Lowney's concealed videotaping of a Boston University police sergeant during a political protest in 2006. Apparently Lowney was shooting footage of the protest when police ordered him to stop and then arrested him for continuing to operate the camera while hiding it in his coat. According to a press release from the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, the footage appears to have been posted on a "video-sharing website." As part of the sentencing, the court ordered Lowney to remove the footage from the Internet.