Police fight cellphone recordings - Charge owner with illegal surveillance

Boston cops...some of the dumbest Ive ever had the pleasure of coming in contact with

bottom line is that cops like to live outside the laws for regular people

Laws like NV are ridiculous. I don't agree with someone secretly recording conversations that nobody knows about. But, if you want to record each and every moment of your own life, even if that means conversations on the phone, that should be your right. In some instances, it can be your only defense if say someone were trying to set you up. I lived recording every moment of my life for 8 years in Kentucky because of this and recording everything wound up saving my ass in court 26 times. It was corrupt detectives that I was defending myself against and each time I proved it was a setup, they were free to leave and try again. Sovereign Immunity laws and Judges in bed with prosecutors in bed with swine protect them. We must demand access to all technology they can use or the tides turn and we become a police state, as easily noticeable in this country over the last 60 years.

Yes, public servant applies to anyone without a badge. Once that badge goes on, watch out, rules and laws do not apply. Besides, as long as they're on the job they have sovereign immunity. Another un-Constitutional law they passed while the sheeple were sleeping.

When carrying the work of a public servant in view of the public you do not have the right to privacy. In court video, documentation should be more convincing than eye witness testimony. Let's get real though. Do you think the Ambulance Chaser was more worried about the violation of the suspects rights or the money to be had in a fat law suit? Just asking.

Thanks to regjeoshmo who posted this on another thread.

A Practical Guide to Taping Phone Calls and In-Person Conversations in the 50 States and D.C.

http://www.rcfp.org/taping/states.html

The law does not seem to address video, without audio, in a public place.

Two party states are just protecting the cops from counter surveillance. They can still record you with a warrant but no citizens have the right to protect themselves with the power of recording. Balance of power is way off there.

Massachusetts

It is a crime to record any conversation, whether oral or wire, without the consent of all parties in Massachusetts. The penalty for violating the law is a fine of up to $10,000 and a jail sentence of up to five years. Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 272 , § 99.

Disclosure of the contents of an illegally recorded conversation, when accompanied by the knowledge that it was obtained illegally, is a misdemeanor that can be punished with a fine of up to $5,000 and imprisonment for up to two years. Civil damages are expressly authorized for the greater of actual damages, $100 for each day of violation or $1,000. Punitive damages and attorney fees also are recoverable.

For example, in Com. v. Hanedanian, 742 N.E.2d 1113 (Mass. App. Ct. 2001), the appellate court held that a defendant’s conduct of intentionally making a secret tape recording of oral communications between himself and his attorneys, without consent, violated the statute, even though the defendant was a party to the conversation.

However, the First Circuit, applying the holding in Bartnicki v. Vopper, 532 U.S. 514 (2001), held in 2007 that a woman who accepted from a source a recorded tape, that she had reason to know was recorded illegally by the source, could not be punished for publishing the tape on her website. The court held that the woman had a First Amendment right to publish the tape she received. Jean v. Massachusetts State Police, 492 F.3d 24 (1st Cir. 2007).

An appellate court has also held that the recorded conversation or communication does not need to be intelligible in order for the interception to violate the wiretapping statute. Com. v. Wright, 814 N.E.2d 741 (Mass. App. Ct. 2004).

Amen, CalgarC. We could beat Wall Street if we all at the same time quit paying our credit card bills and mortgages. Then refuse to leave the house. It's ours we worked hard for it and we'd own it if you hadn't been stealing from us all of these years. Shut them down and then help each other through it and restart without the criminals in Washington. Crowds and mobs can make them listen too.

Public Servants....i feel like public should be the operative word there (as in NOT private)

All of those wiretapping laws and such aren't effective if what you are recording is IN PUBLIC - you have no reasonable expectation of privacy if you are talking/acting in public - somebody get that boy a good lawyer!

what do they not get about the title PUBLIC SERVANT, if what they are doing is not fit to be recorded than maybe they should go about their business in another way...I agree with the posts below regarding us being under surveillance, if we get recorded all the time than so will they.. this will only lead to us coming up with better recording devices that they can't see.. I can imagine the looks on their faces when a video pops up in court and they had no idea it even existed because they couldn't see the camera/video doing the recording...

fuck our governments and our protection services... i say we fix the problems in this country our selves... the police, governments and corporations migh have all the money, but they depend on us to get it... what if we just stop paying and starting fighting back :D

A friend of mine snapped some photos of cops beating up some folks in Pittsburgh. They violently arrested him and when he got his phone back the pictures were gone.

Cops have a tough job, especially when someone is resisting arrest. But the law is clear on what methods are appropriate and which are not. This kind of evidence-destroying behavior clearly indicates that they know they are not operating within the law.

I'm sure the patriot act nullifys that law anyways.

I remember I got in trouble on the playground in 4th grade for "secretly" recording people with my talkboy. Man those were cool, espescially right after homealone came out.

geez are these guys dumb...

YOU LIVE IN A POLICE STATE.... the cops get away with murder and torture on a almost daily basis... of course if you are going to capture their actions for others to see they will arrest you...

can not have an informed public... they might just wake up and realize the american dream was killed and one of the best documents ever writen has been used as toilet paper.... for the presidents morning "constitution"als

this is a good example of not wanting to see a law made, any more than we want to see how a sausage is made. the law was in reaction to 'private investigators', credit burueaus, etc. taping our calls and using the data for nefarious purposes, (what else?). but then this law, called the two-consent law (12 states), was seized by police officers to arrest people who were recording the actions of a public servant, never the intent of the law, but as many Courts have said if the legislatures don't fix this, we have no choice but to abide by what was passed.

Are you kidding me? If they can use cameras for surveillance we should have the same right to counter-surveillance. Balance of power or they will get out of control. Everyone should start wearing mini cameras and taping everything they do, then if nothing happens, erase and start again tomorrow. I bet there would be lots of cops occupying them jails if that happened.

Police are public servants. What they do in a uniform is not private. This is disgusting and sadly it reminds me of all the Iranian protest videos over the past year.