Illinois's wiretapping law is a "two-party consent" law. Illinois makes it a crime to use an "eavesdropping device" to overhear or record a phone call or conversation without the consent of all parties to the conversation. The law defines an "eavesdropping device" as "any device capable of being used to hear or record oral conversation or intercept, retain, or transcribe electronic communication whether such conversation or electronic communication is conducted in person, by telephone, or by any other means." 720 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/14-1, -2. If you are operating in Illinois, you should always get the consent of all parties before recording an in-person conversation or telephone call. In addition to subjecting you to criminal prosecution, violating the Illinois wiretapping statute can expose you to a civil lawsuit for damages by an injured party. While you generally are permitted to photograph or record video of people without permission in most public places, it is illegal in Illinois to "videotape, photograph, or film" people without their consent in "a restroom, tanning bed, or tanning salon, locker room, changing room or hotel bedroom." 720 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/26-4(a) (scroll down).

The results are so haphazard, it feels like their parody of google is what actually drives Bing.

I don't know how this late in the game a search engine can be so bad.

"rapidly" is not exactly a precise amount. What if they mean 10 dB every 10 meters? Also, this device is made for crowd control. Sooner or later it will get used at close range, either by accident or because some idiot tought it was a good idea.

Acoustics The inverse-square law is used in acoustics in measuring the sound intensity at a given distance from the source. Example In acoustics, the sound pressure of a spherical wavefront radiating from a point source decreases by 50% as the distance r is doubled, or measured in dB it decreases by 6.02 dB.

only 150 dB? that's plenty to cause irreversable damage.

Well, the US side of the border now wants to search "laptops, digital cameras, cell phones and any other electronics on your person or in your vehicle", as described in the article.

What we want on our side of the border is for our authorities to enforce our own gun laws and stop and search people coming from the US into Mexico.

The real difference is going to be when you cross the border driving. There's been waaay too many documented cases of people buying guns (and I mean big guns, like assault rifles) legally in the US with their God-given 2nd ammendment right and smuggling them to the drug cartels here.