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Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police

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Re: Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police

#101

Post by InclinedPlane »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #2

I wish I had ten upvotes for this. Or a hundred. I love devil's advocate, so I'll say this just as a way of keeping things in perspective: not a lot of folks would want people videotaping everything they did at work and putting it on YouTube (along with criticisms) I know it would drive me nuts. Society as a whole is going to have to go through some major contortions as people get their heads wrapped around the idea…

Being a police officer is a tough job. It should be a tough job, it comes with a huge amount of responsibility and an enormous capacity for abuse of power.

As it turns out though, there is an easy way to avoid the difficulties of police work, and that is choosing a different career.

Re: Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police

#102

Post by philwelch »

Dove wrote: post #67
michael_h wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you have to have anything related to your work release reviewed for the rest of your life I'm not sure that this is true.

I don't know about that, but you do see notices all the time that say things like, "Use of this or any other DoD interest computing system constitutes consent to monitoring at all times. . . information placed in this system is not subject to any expectation of privacy." It just comes with the territory. Some jobs are more private, some are more public. Bank tellers, customer service reps, talk show hosts, members of…

Unlike bank tellers, customer service reps, and cops, talk show hosts and members of Congress often seek those careers largely because of the public attention involved, not in spite of it.

Re: Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police

#103

Post by philwelch »

pg wrote: post #83
apu wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why'd you leave the ACLU?

The most recent time, because they sent me a deluge of junkmail. They seemed to have morphed into a marketing organization that also did some legal work. Maybe the problem was that I gave them more than the normal amount of money; maybe the more you give them the more mail they send you.

Many political organizations do this. The NRA will even call your house in the middle of dinner.

Is it ever possible to donate anonymously?

Re: Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police

#104

Post by zmmmmm »

ErrantX wrote: post #6

Was the camera obscured - as it appears to be? In which case I can kinda see the issue they have (i.e. unaware of being filmed). That seems different from most of the other cases where the filming was pretty overt. Still; it is an extremely bad reaction even so. The thing that shocked me most was.... he drew his gun. Are things really that bad that a traffic stop requires a drawn weapon? Jesus :(

I think this would be a good distinction that we don't have in our current black and white ("private" or "public") perception of the privacy. It is one thing to be knowingly recorded (even if without consent) and quite another to be secretly recorded. The law doesn't seem to care but there are definitely situations where this distinction is important.

Re: Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police

#105

Post by MartinCron »

hga wrote: post #94
MartinCron wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm operating under the optimistic assumption that the Illinois statues will eventually be found unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court.

One hopes so, but as you stated it ("Wiretapping laws only apply...") this is demonstrably not true. Case law in Massachusetts is also unambiguous in twisting the "on it's face" potentially reasonable law into a law like that in Illinois (the MA courts are fond of this sort of thing). It remains to be seen what the Maryland courts do, especially since this case happened about the same time as a notable police brutali…

You're absolutely right. My broad generalization was terrible legal advice, especially for those in Massachusetts.

That said, anyone who takes legal advice from a photographer/developer on an internet forum deserves what they get.

Re: Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police

#107

Post by nitrogen »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #36
CodeMage wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Society as a whole is going to have to go through some major contortions as people get their heads wrapped around the idea that everything -- and I mean everything -- is going to be digitized and recorded. That is precisely one of the things that give me the shivers about the society today. I understand Mr. Graber's motivation. I also agree wholeheartedly that the "reasonable expectation of privacy" rule has to be ap…

Don't sound like a nut-job to me. It's insane the degree to which people are willing to record and distribute every little bit of their lives. And by insane, I don't mean a good thing. The techno-wonks will tell you that it's all evolving to some kind of wonderful singularity nirvana. But do we really want to become The Borg? Because either we either fiercely keep our lives and thoughts private and personal, or we sh…

I suggest watching the movie The Final Cut with Robin Williams. It considers a world where parents pay to have organic PVRs implanted into their unborn children's brains. Every waking moment or dream is recorded, and the children are told when they reach 21 years old. The ostensible purpose of the implants is for video eulogies.

Re: Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police

#108

Post by nitrogen »

Nelson69 wrote: post #11
stcredzero wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish all cars came with black boxes and 360-degree video coverage so that we could voluntarily supply this information. People lie when they get into a fender bender. (Note: if you live in a neighborhood where people key cars, either stop parking like a douche or you need to move to a better neighborhood. If people feel free to vandalize in a place, they'll also do other crime.) I'd pay $300 for a device I could ju…

I started sketching notes for this a couple years back. Some stupid parking lot altercation where someone started lying.. With the costs of flash and cameras becoming so inexpensive and the amount of wireless access around (GSM or Wifi) I was thinking you Tivo style record like 2 to 8 hours of video just with a circular buffer then if a triggering event happens (hazard button pressed, the record button pressed, a cra…

If there's going to be a camera in my car, it's going to be under my control, not remotely accessible by a third party who may or may not be police on a legitimate investigation.

Re: Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police

#109

Post by hga »

MartinCron wrote: post #105
hga wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One hopes so, but as you stated it ("Wiretapping laws only apply...") this is demonstrably not true. Case law in Massachusetts is also unambiguous in twisting the "on it's face" potentially reasonable law into a law like that in Illinois (the MA courts are fond of this sort of thing). It remains to be seen what the Maryland courts do, especially since this case happened about the same time as a notable police brutali…

You're absolutely right. My broad generalization was terrible legal advice, especially for those in Massachusetts. That said, anyone who takes legal advice from a photographer/developer on an internet forum deserves what they get.

Ah, you raise a good point, as far as I know the Illinois state law hasn't passed state judicial scrutiny, although it surely will have a chance at that in the near future (unless the prosecutors of one particular case punt). Whereas in Massachusetts it is settled law and the only recourse is an appeal to the Federal courts.

Re: Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police

#110

Post by helium »

Sukotto wrote: post #10

Funny how "If you're not doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to fear" only works when the authorities are recording what you say and do and not when you do the same to them.

There is a huge difference between being monitored whilst performing your duty that you're being paid for by taxpayers and being spied upon in your own private life.
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