To: The California State House, The California State Senate, and Governor Gavin Newsom
Michael Lyon: Eavesdropping is a Non Violent crime and should not be a Felony. Free Michael Lyon...
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"Michael Lyon is currently in jail serving a violation for Felony Eavesdropping that should only be a Misdemeanor, and not a Felony".
Why is this important?
It's not against the Law to video tape someone without them knowing. It's agaiinst the law to video tape with audio on it. With Comcast having video with audio in people's homes recording and with hidden cameras in people's homes watching care givers with their children making sure they are not abused, and with all the people recording other people on their phones with audio and posting them on line without consent, this should not be a felony. And Michael Lyon should not be in jail serving time for what the whole rest of the world is doing. Court Says It's Okay To Secretly Record Conversation If Done For Legitimate Reasons
from the i-may-or-may-not-be-recording-this dept
While there have been a lot of concerns lately about efforts to misuse "wiretapping" laws that forbid any recordings of people without their knowledge, it appears at least a few courts are recognizing how silly that is. Yet another court has now said that secretly recording a conversation -- in this case with an iPhone -- is okay, assuming there was no crime committed with the recording, and the recording was for a legitimate purpose. As the court noted:
"The defendant must have the intent to use the illicit recording to commit a tort of crime beyond the act of recording itself."
That makes sense. The act of recording alone, shouldn't be a criminal act, as it really depends on what is being done with the recording. And, in an age where not only is recording everything easier, but for some becoming standard, requiring permission to record all audio seems like an outdated concept.
People are recording other people with audio on and posting it all over the web like this and these people aren't in jail for it, here are examples of videos on the web and FB
Please watch this video and tell me that this isn't illegal but it's okay to post all over the Internet on YouTube
http://youtu.be/rPZ4zJ7mT2I