Man Faces 7 Year Sentence Under "Wiretapping Law" For Filming Police

[ThomCat]

http://www.informationliberation.com/index.php?id=22471

A man has been charged in Carlisle, Pennsylvania with filming police officers during a routine traffic stop and faces up to seven years in prison for "wiretapping".

Brian D. Kelly is charged under a state law that bars the intentional interception or recording of anyone's oral conversation without their consent, reports the Patriot News.

The criminal case relates to the sound, not the pictures, that his camera picked up.

His camera and film were seized by police during the May 24 stop, he said, and he spent 26 hours in Cumberland County Prison until his mother posted her house as security for his $2,500 bail. Police also took film from his pockets that wasn't related to the traffic stop, he said.

...........

At what point did the police, coast to coast, seem to decide that citizens are the enemy? More and more, we're seeing stories that show that it's the cops who should be arrested and tossed in jail.
:wtf:

[Greyskye]

1. The irony in this is simply astounding

:banghead:

[ThomCat]

2. It's happening too often, in too many places

to be anything less than a law enforcement industry strategy. They're trying to immunize themselves from the technology that will convict them of abuse and corruption by making it illegal to have that technology anyplace near them.

As an industry, I think law enforcement is incredibly corrupt. x(

[IChing]

3. picture here (joke) but this should never go to court

"The charge is invalid because it flouts privacy laws. Under the fourth amendment the expectation of privacy is not reasonable at such public places as automobile thoroughfares.

In other words filming on a public highway cannot be classed as an invasion of privacy."

[lpbk2713]

4. I'm not a lawyer but .....

couldn't it be argued what the police do on a public roadway (to a certain extent) is a matter of public record? It seems like this gives them a whole lot of room to avoid accountability.

[ORDagnabbit]

5. if you're not scared of our police state you should be.... n/t

[ThomCat]

6. Agreed. We're creeping in that direction.

And in some places, for some unlucky people, we're already there.