The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Monday struck down as unconstitutional an Oregon wiretapping law that bars secretly taping in-person conversations in public spaces, with a dissenting judge citing the rise of generative artificial intelligence “deepfakes” in support of a person’s right to have notice before being recorded.
The decision revives a lawsuit from Project Veritas, a conservative undercover media organization that claimed in a 2020 complaint that the law violated the First Amendment right to newsgathering. The group said the statute’s exceptions—one allowing the recording of life-endangering felonies and another of police officers—favors recording some government officials over others.
