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by waffleiron 623 days ago
>they're not legally entitled to much privacy in these places.

While I think this is a really cool project, I also agree with the privacy issues. CA is a two party consent state, and recording a conversation (which this is likely to do) like this is likely illegal. While a person might not have a expectation of privacy about someone just hearing the conversation, they are protected by law if they are recorded without their knowledge.

NB: I am not a lawyer, and the above could very well be wrong.

Edit: As I was informed below, I was wrong on the legal points.
1 comments
borski 623 days ago
There is no right to privacy in a public space. It is not illegal to record an area where individuals would not have the expectation of privacy, even without their consent. Therefore, this is not illegal.

If this were a restaurant, that would be a different story.

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waffleiron 622 days ago
Yup you are totally right for CA:

> Exceptions (one-party consent required): (1) where there is no expectation of privacy, (2) recording within government proceedings that are open to the public, (3) recording certain crimes or communications regarding such crimes (for the purpose of obtaining evidence), (4) a victim of domestic violence recording a communication made to him/her by the perpetrator (for the purpose of obtaining a restraining order or evidence that the perpetrator violated an existing restraining order), and (5) a peace officer recording a communication within a location in response to an emergency hostage situation.

Source: https://www.mwl-law.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/RECORDING...

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HeatrayEnjoyer 622 days ago
> There is no right to privacy in a public space.

No legally protected right. This doesn't mean it is ethical, and given that it is a protected right in other jurisdictions shows it deserves more consideration and should not be hand waived away.

If "it's legal" is the argument being used to defense a behavior, it's safe to assume it's not actually a good one.

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fkyoureadthedoc 622 days ago
No, "it's legal" is the argument being used to defend the "it's illegal" and "you're not allowed to" argument. The argument to support the project is that it's cool af.
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borski 622 days ago
It is legal. The claim was that it wasn’t.

I never argued it was ethical. I think it is, but that wasn’t my argument.

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