> ----------
> From: Sandy Sandfort[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Monday, April 30, 2001 12:30 PM
> To: Trei, Peter; 'Bill Stewart'; '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
> Subject: RE: Recording conversations and the laws of men
>
> Peter wrote:
>
> > And if you're in a two-party state,
> > unless you have a sign or tell the
> > trooper that you're recording, you
> > can wind up in jail. It's happened
> > recently here in Massachusetts.
>
> Details, citation, URL, please.
>
>
> S a n d y
>
How many do you want? It looks like he's not
behind bars, but got 6 months probation, a $500
fine, and a felony rap, for daring to record an
officer on duty.
The last post is the most complete, and is by a
familiar name.
Peter Trei
---------------------------------------------
Here's the relevant state law for Massachusetts:
[start quote]
Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 272 , � 99 (1999): 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.
[end quote]
(http://www.rcfp.org/taping/ is a useful resource)
Similar laws exist in
California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Montana,
Nevada,
New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington.
--------------------------------------------
Try Googleing or Dejaing "Micheal Hyde" and "porsche"
--------------------------------------------
http://www.reason.com/9911/brickbats.html
After being pulled over while driving in Abington, Massachusetts, Michael
Hyde landed in
court--on charges of wiretapping. Hyde thought he was being harassed because
he had long
hair and drove a fancy Porsche. The officers told Hyde his license plate
wasn't properly
illuminated and that his exhaust was too loud. The stop led to no traffic
charges, but Hyde
says he taped the police officer harassing him, asking if Hyde had drugs.
And that's where
the wiretap charge comes in. The police claim Hyde illegally violated the
officer's privacy by
taping the traffic stop. "Police officers have the same rights as other
citizens," said prosecutor
Paul Dawley, adding that if the tables were turned and police were caught
taping someone
without permission, people would be outraged. That seems to ignore the fact
that traffic stops
are recorded all the time by videotapes mounted in police cruisers. The
people stopped are
rarely informed that they are being taped.
--------------------------------------------
http://www.interesting-people.org/199904/0043.html
>From: "David P. Reed" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
>[the URL for this was inadvertently left out... it is:
>
>http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/107/metro/Motorist_s_tape_of_traffic_stop
_lands_him_in_court+.shtml
>]
>I thought I lived in a state that took the rights of citizens against abuse
of police power seriously. In the following Boston
Globe story, though, it appears that some police and D.A.'s will twist the
laws as necessary to make sure that police actions
are "private" and hidden from public scrutiny.
>
>David Brin - where are you when we need you?
>
> From the Boston Globe Online today:
>Motorist's tape of traffic stop lands him in court
>Wiretap charge in bid for misconduct
>(By Hermione Malone, Globe Correspondent)
>On Oct. 26, 1998, Michael Hyde got a familiar feeling. Driving his Porsche
on Route 123 in Abington, he noticed a police
officer looking at him from the entrance of a convenience store.
-------------------------------------
Deja'd from misc.legal.moderated:
Excerpts from the _Globe_ story April 17 1999, before the trial:
On Oct. 26, 1998, Michael Hyde got a familiar feeling. Driving his
Porsche on Route 123 in Abington, he noticed a police officer looking
at him from the entrance of a convenience store. Jokingly, Hyde turned
to his friend in the car and said, ''Ever have that feeling that
someone isn't going to leave you alone?''
A mile down the road, that officer, Michael Aziz, stopped Hyde's car, and
what happened next, Hyde says, amounts to simple harassment, involving four
officers, because he and his friend looked like drug dealers to the police.
''I was driving a Porsche 928, I'm in a band, have long hair, and my friend
was wearing a leather coat, and somehow that added up to cocaine,'' he
said, adding that one officer asked if he had any ''blow in the dash.''
That quote, he states, is on a tape of the encounter. Like an increasing
number of motorists in the wake of the Rodney King confrontation with Los
Angeles police, police say, Hyde taped the traffic stop.
But this time, the police are fighting back. They indicted Hyde on a
wiretapping statute, alleging that he illegally violated the officers'
privacy.
''Police officers have the same rights as other citizens,'' insisted
Plymouth County prosecutor Paul Dawley, stating that, if the tables were
turned and a police officer were caught taping someone without permission,
people would be outraged.
-----------------------------------------
alt.activism.children, 99/07/06
By Ellen O'Brien, Globe Staff, 07/03/99
BROCKTON - The case of Michael Hyde vs. the town of Abington
began with a routine traffic stop and ended yesterday when the
31-year-old rock musician was found guilty of a felony - tape
recording the voices of patrol officers without them knowing.
In an unusual turnabout against a motorist who used a recording
device to monitor alleged police misbehavior, Plymouth County
prosecutors won their argument that four Abington police officers
were protected by the same law that protects civilians against
illegal wire tapping.
Hyde, who believed the officers had unfairly targeted him because
of his appearance, recorded their words on the hand-held recorder
that he kept in his Porche 928.
He was sentenced to six months' probation by Brockton District
Court Judge David Nagle after a jury of six took less than one
hour to determine that Hyde had broken the law when he pressed
the record button on Oct. 26, 1998, as Abington police officer
Michael Aziz stopped Hyde on Route 123.
Hyde had made that tape recording public and it revealed that at
least one of the four officers who arrived at the scene used
profanity, threatened him with jail, and questioned him about the
possibility of cocaine in his possession. The tape revealed that
Abington police Sergeant Kevin Forst asked Hyde if he had any
''blow in the dash''.
That traffic stop did not result in any ticket or fine, but Hyde
complained to Abington police the next day about what he felt was
harassment.
In an unusual turnaround, Abington police filed charges against
Hyde for illegally recording the traffic stop.
Plymouth County prosecutors said the six-month probation and $500
fine were appropriate.
''The jury clearly understood that Mr. Hyde had broken the law,
and we're satisfied with the result,'' said Paul Dawley, Plymouth
County Deputy First Assistant District Atorney.
Hyde and his attorney, James Greenberg, vowed an appeal.
''I don't blame the jury,'' Hyde said. ''I blame a system that
does not hold police responsible. These are people who our tax
dollars go to. I think we are all entitled to know what they say,
and how they act, all the time.''
The felony statute Hyde broke states that conversations cannot be
recorded without both parties' knowledge.
Boston criminal attorney Thomas Hoopes said he was not surprised
at yesterday's verdict or surprised the trial was widely watched
by the public and legal specialists.
''The truth of the matter is a lot of police officers do a great
job, but there are also a lot of people who would like to have a
tape recorder when they are stopped by those who are not doing
such a professional job,'' Hoopes said.
Hyde said he is worried his conviction will make him a future
target for law enforcement officers and harassnent.
Hyde, a Braintree resident, was stopped by Abington police for
having a loud exhaust system, though he maintains the police were
hostile toward him because of his long, curly chestnut-colored
hair. He said he questioned the officers when they stopped him,
cooperating but making inquires throughout the process.
''They wonder why drivers aren't always so agreeable,'' Hyde
said. ''It's because police officers, some of them, get into this
mode where they are so hyped up they have clearly gone beyond
what is necessary for a traffic stop.''
The Commonwealth acknowledged that the felony charge attracted
lots of attention, with the public anxious to see if police would
be held to a different standard than those not wearing a badge.
''It got a lot of attention '' said Dawley, but this verdict
makes clear that the jury supported the actions of the Abington
Police,'' Dawley said.
Plymouth Assistant District Attorney Suzanne Sullivan said
yesterday that Hyde's tape recording, which opens with his voice
stating ''11 o'clock. Why am I being stopped?'' showed the jury
that Hyde eventually became hostile.
''I'm not disapproving of what he said initially,'' Sullivan
said, adding that motorists have a right to know why police
officers pull them over. ''But there is no indication that the
Abington police did anything wrong.''
Hyde said that it was not unusual for him to have a tape recorder
with him that night because he is a musician in the group Rock
Theatre, and he travels with recording devices.
''I don't regret that I fought this all the way,'' Hyde said.
''But I don't think anyone who is paying state or federal tax
dollars should not know how police are spending their time, and
how they are treating the general public.''
--
Eric Michael Cordian 0+
O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
"Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"
