Quite possibly the most important civil rights gadget ever
This item may be the most important thing that has happened to the pursuit of civil rights ever. What law enforcement officer would ever remove your wrist watch during a detainment:–Gene Hoffman, Chair of the Calguns Foundation
Remember, we gunowners in Kalifornia still have reason to be wary of any police stop. It’s illegal to record voice in Kali without permission, so it’s good that this just records video.
http://gizmodo.com/5363328/wristwatc…-new-ipod-nano
Quote:Wristwatch Camcorder Is More Subtle, Sneaky Than New iPod Nano
By Dan Nosowitz, 7:15 PM on Sat Sep 19 2009, 6,375 views
The iPod Nano’s camcorder is pretty okay, but it’s just so obvious—what happened to the days of camcorders hidden in tie-clips and eyeglasses? The wristwatch camcorder is pretty sneaky and surprisingly not ugly.
The lens itself is located within the number 2, and its 1.3MP camera takes AVI video at a resolution of 352×288. Inside the watch lies 2GB of flash memory, which is enough for about 12 hours of video, and gets about 12 hours of battery life on a single charge (via USB or AC). It’s pretty toned-down, looking just about like every other trendy oversized silver wristwatch out there, and costs $150. [Book of Joe]
I may be wrong about this, but it was my understanding that it is legal to record police without their knowledge as long as it is not a private setting. According to what I have read at California Open Carry, “The police have no expectation of privacy when performing their duties in a public setting.”
I’ll try to see if I can find a specific penal code or legal ruling that backs that up.
You’re probably right, but that doesn’t mean your recording device of choice wouldn’t be confiscated before (or because) you caught them doing something incriminating. Not right, but it happens.
The old “better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6” line applies here, I think. I imagine some cops would say “better to be judged for wrongful confiscation of a camera than to be judged for what I’m shown doing on the camera.”
I found this: http://www.rcfp.org/taping/states/california.html which seems to confirm that recording in public places is legal, where private instances without the consent of all parties are not. Looks like video falls under the same rules. I believe a police station is public, so I assume the watch would be legal in that case. Anything to substantiate an incident where your rights were violated is a good thing. For only $150, that’s a handy tool.