[Jason]

http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnews/2007/06/brian_d_kelly_didnt_think.html


2 words
jury nullification

[gryph]

Okay, seriously - what the hell? Speaking in a public place is vocal broadcasting. How the hell is he at fault for "felony wiretapping?" That's the moral equivalent of taping something off the air on a VCR (which has been legal for years).

[PilotGuy]

This is the direction our society is going. We pass ridiculous laws under the pretense that "if you're not a criminal, you don't have anything to worry about". Makes me want to puke.

[sg]

Being an innocent passenger, if he had known the law, and said "officer, im just informing you that im taping this asrequired by law", and starts taping....

I wonder if the officer has any authority at all to make him turn it off? On what grounds? They may claim that you are interfering with a police action or something, but I dont see how that would hold up in court.

This is exactly where orgs like the ACLU need to step in and stomp some nazi's in court, instead of wasting their time on some of the kooky fringe cases they take.

[xerxes]

To turn The Man's argument against him:

If you're not doing anything wrong then you don't have anything to worry about. It's for you own good, to protect you from the terrorists and from yourself. It's for the children. It's for our country. God is on our side!

gimme a break.

[DocSoc]

[ClandestineSwine]

This will probably ruffle some feathers, but ...

If I'm outside the confines of my4 walls, driving down the road, walking in public, or whatever, I don't expect any "right to privacy". That goes for anything and anyone regardless of position / stature / who your daddy is.

This whole bit of "wiretapping" is being applied to broadly. And frankly, I thought the intent of privacy, in it's original format, was to keep the government out of my business, not the other way around.

[Wingspan34]

In this case the cop, then the DA, is/are abusing their power. And, in fact, are harassing this individual by way of false arrest, wrongful imprisonment and malicious prosecution.

I spent the time to read the posted replies to the news story and PA law does NOT give the officer any right to not be taped, via video or audio. He's a public servant doing a public duty in a public place. The cop didn't know the details of the law, arrested this young man and now the DA is backing him up to intimidate the kid from suing, justifiably. This is the worst kind of abuse of the legal system. Bad cop supported by corrupt DA.

I hope the kid can find (or is contacted by) a GOOD lawyer, and fights this.

This kind of stuff burns me up!

PS - As HG piolts, I hope we are offended by these violations of our (more typical) freedoms. After all, what we do is one of the ultimate expressions of freedom. If "they" can mess with a simple right to video tape a public servant in a public place, then how far are they from messing with our right to fly? Think about it. Heck, they've done it at Mt. Sentinel ! The only catch there is that the launch is on private lands (as are many HG sites).

Good post Jason.

[sg]