I love the comment down the page blaming Obamacare for HIPAA. The police obviously acted out of line here, but it's pretty difficult to come up with a general principle of how to deal with public recordings. Of police and other officers of the state? Totally should be allowed. What if they're interacting with some member of the public, though? That person may well desire not to have their face associated with a confr…
They shouldn't be out in public. The courts have routinely ruled that there is no expectation of privacy in public. This is why CCTV recordings are allowed.
Do we want to allow skeevy men to follow around 12 year olds in malls with a video camera? Do we want celebrities to have virtually no expectation of privacy when they go to the grocery store? Do we want anti-abortion protestors recording people walking in public spaces, posting their pictures online, and linking them to their names? Do we want anti-Walmart organizers to be able to take pictures of people leaving Walmart and harassing them in a guilt-shaming campaign?
It's obviously a Tough Issue. But I see no reason I should be expected to give up all my expectations of privacy. Just because it's physically possible to take pictures doesn't mean you should be able to take pictures, just like being able to do SQLI on a public facing website doesn't entitle you to do SQLI on a public facing website.