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video cameras on house with audio option

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S

smallbiz

Guest
What is the name of your state? Mass

I've installed a video camera system at my residence which records 24/7. There are four cameras on the outside of the house, as well as a few more inside. The system has the option for audio, which has an on/off switch. Will I be violating any type of law by leaving the audio on?
 


Happy Trails

Senior Member
smallbiz said:
What is the name of your state? Mass

I've installed a video camera system at my residence which records 24/7. There are four cameras on the outside of the house, as well as a few more inside. The system has the option for audio, which has an on/off switch. Will I be violating any type of law by leaving the audio on?
Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 272 , § 99: 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.

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.
 

annegg

Member
Happy Trails said:
Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 272 , § 99: 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.

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.

Uh oh. What is the law for California, PLEASE? And what if a damaging conversation by neighboring drug dealers just happened to be recorded when I was videotaping my own children playing on our property?
Can that be used against them?
 

Happy Trails

Senior Member
annegg said:
Uh oh. What is the law for California, PLEASE? And what if a damaging conversation by neighboring drug dealers just happened to be recorded when I was videotaping my own children playing on our property?
Can that be used against them?
Although you should have started your own thread, I'll answer your question here, because the original question was answered.

In California, consent of ALL parties is needed in audio and video recordings. Whether it is a phone conversation or video camera or a face to face conversation. . .

This includes "confidential" conversations. However, if the conversations are in a public setting, where the "recorded parties" should expect that the conversation would be overheard, that would not be covered by that law.


Criminal and civil penalties:
Under Cal. Penal Code § 637.2(a).--violations are punishable by a $2,500 fine, up to a year in prison for a first offense or both.

Cal. Penal Code § 637.2.--allows for a civil penalty, that anyone injured by a violation of California's privacy statutes may sue for $5,000 or three times the amount of actual damages, whichever is greater.

Related threads:

https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=294467

https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=305499
 

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