If I’d had these magnificent glasses five years ago when the IRS agent auditing our company told us within minutes of walking in the door that we should just sign off on his conclusions so he wouldn’t have to look at our data and could have some play time in the Bay Area before heading back to Sacramento early to beat the traffic, I’d have won a gigantic settlement with little effort. Instead it took five years of fighting, and we’re pretty close (knock wood) to getting to much the same place.
You never know when the beady little eyes of civil servants’ inner rat-fink will pop into view. It’s good to have surreptitious audio & video recordings when that happens.
Bear in mind the legalities – here in TN, it is legal to record any conversation so long as one party is aware of it (such as yourself). The same cannot be said for all states, and I have no idea how “federal entity” plays into things…
I could find out. I have an ‘in’ with the Treasury Department.
Gut feeling is that if you recorded someone making such a remark and it got back to their supervisor and union rep, things could get very interesting for them.
I’ll let you know. My ‘in’ is on vacation right now 🙂
Agreed, Linoge — in California, as you may know, it’s unlawful to audiorecord anyone without their permission. The kicker is that the statute likely is unconstitutional or doesn’t apply in situations in which the recorded person doesn’t enjoy a “reasonable expectation of privacy” — which arguably is the case for police officers on duty. See this great Instapundit post for more: http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/99685/
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It’s illegal in Oregon also. See ORS 125.xxx
The key is “surreptitiously”. If the glasses are obvious in the way they bear the camera equipment, the law probably doesn’t apply.
Obvious to you and I might not be so obvious to the oblivious, though.
And of course, it all depends on the County DA who has gotten the complaint. Some would issue on this ORS, some wouldn’t.