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ACORN Sues Creators of Sting Video

Recordings made without two-party consent, group says

By the Associated Press

Posted Sep 23, 2009 6:21 PM CDT
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(AP) – ACORN is suing the makers of a hidden-camera video that showed employees of its Baltimore office giving tax advice to a man and woman posing as a pimp and prostitute. The liberal group contends that the audio portion of the video was obtained illegally because Maryland requires two-party consent to create sound recordings.

The two employees seen in the video, Tonja Thompson and Shera Williams, were fired after it was posted online. The lawsuit says they suffered "extreme emotional distress." The multimillion-dollar lawsuit seeks damages from the actors, James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, and from conservative columnist Andrew Breitbart, who posted the video, and others like it, on his website.

This image made from undated hidden-camera shows Hannah Giles posing as a prostitute.
This image made from undated hidden-camera shows Hannah Giles posing as a prostitute.   (AP Photo/Biggovernment.com)
ACORN employee Tonja Thompson in the hidden-camera video.
ACORN employee Tonja Thompson in the hidden-camera video.   (AP Photo/Biggovernment.com)
ACORN employee Shera Williams in the hidden-camera video.
ACORN employee Shera Williams in the hidden-camera video.   (AP Photo/Biggovernment.com)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 39 comments
aces08
Sep 24, 2009 12:57 PM CDT
Conservatives are in favor of privacy and freedom yet when some of their own INFRINGE on another persons freedom of privacy (law states two party knowledge in Maryland in order to protect peoples privacy) it's okay. What kind of crap is this anyway? It's not okay for the government to spy on people but its okay for Fox to spy on you? Seems like conservatives are very hypocritical of themselves.
riffran
Sep 24, 2009 12:23 PM CDT
thats like a suit by an arsonist for burning his hand at a fire he set..claiming "unsafe work enviroment"...lol...
RobN
Sep 24, 2009 12:18 PM CDT
ACORN doesn't seem to grasp that nobody except George Soros cares about how the tapes were obtained. The general public doesn't care what Maryland law is. But suing will put them in the news over and over again, each time pissing off an entirely new group of people who somehow managed to miss them the first time. It's a First Amendment issue that will go all the way to the Supreme Court if they're found liable. Does ACORN really want that much coverage? If they had any brains they'd make a public statement thanking this group for letting them know that their procedures and training needs help and how they'll do better in the future.

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lawsuit • Baltimore • sting operations • hidden camera • Acorn • Andrew Breitbart

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