Freesound Forums

I think the circumstances of both of these cases is BS.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/us/23cnceavesdropping.html?_r=1

That looks like a law drafted to deter secretly recording police for nefarious purposes, (e.g. bugging the doughnut shop and passing the information on to criminals), is being inappropriately used to cover up police misconduct: I don’t think the law was designed to prevent/imprison persons for recording their interactions with the police.

The laws on covert recording vary from state to state and country to country.

I totally agree. I believe this is not the use the law was intended for. I dont imagine too many people get charged with this, but these two cases are pretty troubling.

scary...is a nice word to this HORROR situation...I read the article...perhaps i don`t understand some sentences/words, but i do the spirit of the situation!!
my story...I travel frequently abroad...and i carry my zoomh4 of course...then i have to explain what the hell is this device, imagine it, at costumes/airports, the atmosphere is very DENSE!!!

Act 1: I was at Chicago a couple of month ago...the land of the great MATE HammerKlavier...but also an every-day-hard-time when i had to explain to policemen...ETC, ETC, ETC...what was the porpouse of recording anything...form street sounds, crickets...and the STUPID man at charge of the SECURITY of the "RUSH"(Canada) show, and i was outside the place and not even at the sound-practice-time (sorry my poor english...), he wanted to take the zoom...i said NO-WAY-JOSE...so he said give me the memory-card...i said F...k-Off man...then he called a couple of Body-guards? and i had no choice but to give the card...
So, i can`t imagine where this issue "Eavesdropping Laws Mean That Turning On an Audio Recorder Could Send You to Prison" will end...scary...very scary...because if i call the police it only will turn worse.

Act 2: I went to "Buffalo Grove", to visit my sister`s family...and record some cicadas...but it just become a nightmare. one day i was biking with one of my cousins and a police-car stopped us...they asked for my passport and of course...again...what is the zoom for?
A neighbor came out of his house and started to "PUTEARME" (i dont know the word in english...to tell me many words with the F letter, asking about recording his children playing inside his house???...hey...what is wrong with you...I said, i am just recording crickets and the ambiance...then another memory-card (32GB) lost...taken by the policeman TO RE-SEARCH the sounds i recorded and find...what...?

Ok, again, i may misunderstand a couple of sentences you Both wrote but the thing is that...something is wrong...I agree about security issues, but the "PARA-NOIA" is spreading like a virus...and ordinary people (may not be the same situation of Mr Drew and Ms Moore) will be "CAGED" just for recording a cricket in the wrong place at the wrong time?

BUT...the same situation is at other counties like Brazil, France, Spain...places that i visit a lot...
...
thanks 4 listen my story. i hope i added something to this interesting post.
PS: a POST?...i feel that Lonemonk shared with the freesound comunity a very important ISSUE...scary, yes, but we have to beware...be careful (with that AXE...EUGENE) and i hope more FreeSounders will share their opinion/stories about!
http://s1.postimage.org/1bwtbt3t0/DVC00538.jpg

Sounds like you have had some run-ins of your own. You didnt have to give up anything at the Rush show! I can see them not letting you into the show with the machine. You should probably get an H2 or H1 which is more discreet than the H4. I have no idea about other countries, I'm sure there are places where you have no choice but to comply. I have never used my machines outside of North America. I sneak into a lot of shows, but most of them are not the size of Rush. When I last saw them I wasnt doing much recording then.

Oddly, I have never once been asked about my recording rig at any airport both in Canada or the US. (Seattle, San Francisco, Vegas)
I'm very surprised I havent had any issues because my kit has an H2, H1, about 4 microphones, tons of batteries. I'm sure it looks pretty interesting on the xray machine. I have never even been asked to OPEN my case for them. One thing I always do however, is put a piece of classical music on the Zoom, so if they did ask about it I would play them some Glenn Gould and tell them it is my 'iPod' thing.

As we have been talking about this illinois case is probably an extreme example, however there are police and video camera stories all over the damn place. Police are not going to care whether it is audio only or video if they see someone holding a device.

A couple years ago a police woman at the Canada customs commented, while looking inside my backpack stuffed with recorders, cables, batteries, mics, and cameras, 'geezzz, you have a lot of technology here'. I couldn't but smile and agree. She didn't smile, but let me go. I wasn't (much) worried because no memory cards were inside the gadgets, as I always store this stuff in a safer place when traveling. But I guess one can easily run into problems anytime, cross your fingers...

D

Again, my English is poor and i don`t want to use translators, so some my writing may have wrong words or spelling…...
I was not inside the show, i was recording some environment near the place (the sounds are uploaded http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=104492
and click at the geotagegd it will show the exact place i was at that moment, then zoom out just 2/3 steps and go a little to the left there is a stadium? But also as the sounds tell no music was at that moment (pity...I wanted to attend to the show...remembers me old days)... ¿?
About getting some smaller/discrete devices...well, i do respect the places or moments where no recording nor filming are allowed, it doesn't mean that i would loved to record some sounds there, so that's not an option. Let me tell you that one of my business is “develop security-software”(you know the ones which along hardware, cameras, mics and other unbelievable devices give you the information you need), so i can easily record and filming anything without no-one knowing about...but that`s not my “spirit” and i don`t do it.

About the “situations” at airports and places alike...well what can i say:
I am from Argentina...my surname sounds VERY mid-oriental, i shave once a month, my passports have seals? In/out form many different countries, form Bolivia to Tunez, or France to Holland.... I wear very informal cloths, just t-shirt and flip-flops...+ the “sound-hardware n accessories” perhaps give a wrong picture of me...(curiously, my visa to EEUU was many times renewed for TEN years...that's ODD)
Yes, as i bought the zoom at the states, i keep the buy-ticket, manual, etc and like you, have some light/soft music stored, in order to make it easier.

Hey...hummm. i realized that my comment would be more like to share in a PM that in a public post...

Anyway...the main and important theme is the one you shared, sorry 4 a personal story, it doesn't fit at the post.
Peace n Love as a great beloved friend n MATE says.

PS: Dobroide, nice to meet ya again, long time we don`t meet at the forum, I keep an ear at your comments. Hear you Soon.

Microscopia, thanks a lot x your advice...it is a funny one, but surely it will work.
Yet...i will send you a PM with my opinion about it.
Hear You Soon.

Bubble-wrapped jokes aside,rfhache hits this serious topic head-on with his experiences....it's U.S.A but it could be anywhere,an age-old history of sewing fear in the people in order to maintain power.
.......so faced with the choice between being myself and dressing up to placate people living in fear i'm with the flip-flop brigade :wink:

Its a general sad irony of sorts that the law is clamping down more and more on audio/video recording (especially when a police 'incident' is underway, even if you have nothing directly to do with it), when at the same time more people have recording devices on them than at any other time in history. The conditions go hand in hand, so I suppose it is not irony per se, but it often seems in the media like police are wondering why people are recording them all the time... Answer is because almost everyone has the ability, and those cops are regrettably OFTEN doing something they don't want other people to know about.

I notice concert venues make no attempt to take everyones phone away (but the ticket still says that audio or video recording is expressley prohibitied, but they now realize they simply cannot stop people from taking pictures (or recording an mp3 to their phone). Sometimes they just announce no motion video or some thing, but with EVERYONE with their cameras out??? Good luck.

The same applies in the streets. The only way it will get better is if:
-People record whenever they feel like it (in public spaces I mean where the expectation of privacy is basically zilch)
-People refuse to hand over any recording device or memory storage until they have talked with their lawyer

Probably the sanest stance on this I have ever read from a police perspective:

http://www.americancopmagazine.com/expecting-privacy-in-public/