Hidden Camera Laws and Legal Advice

By Mike Josh Ward
If you are planning to install a surveillance system in your home or business it is wise to examine your states privacy laws and consider areas where you may be in violation, which could result in hefty fines and/or a jail sentence. It is unlawful to install covert or hidden security cameras in areas considered to be a private place.

United States privacy laws define a private place as somewhere one can be assume to be safe from unauthorized surveillance. This includes areas such as locker rooms, changing stalls, bathrooms, bedrooms and hotel rooms. This means that you cannot install hidden security cameras or listening devices in these areas without prior written permission from the individual. State laws regarding security cameras are not uniform across the board. Only a small number of them have statutes regarding hidden camera installation. They are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Utah.

In most cases evidence gathered using hidden video cameras will still be admissible in a court of law if a crime is committed whether permission was granted or not. While it may be illegal to install a security camera in a retail store dressing room, footage capturing shoplifters in these areas is still often used to prosecute criminals. The two circumstances covert observation is considered illegal are when the owner of the premises has not authorized observation, or the recorded video/audio is used for illegal means.

Privacy law and the use of hidden security cameras is currently an area of major controversy. This technology has improved rapidly over the last 10 years and laws are still being developed to deal with its implementation. Tools that were once only available to high end law enforcement and government spies can now be purchased by anyone. A fully functional wireless security camera setup including transmitter, receiver, or built in data storage can be purchased for as little as $50. This double edged sword has allowed individuals and business a sense of security previously unattainable, but the easy installation of wireless security cameras has also given way to significant abuses. Research has shown that even a large portion of lawful security cameras are regularly used for voyeuristic purposes.

Unfortunately they way it sits right now there is very little that can be done to prevent people from installing illegal spy camera. As a business or homeowner you can keep yourself out of trouble by checking your state laws or consulting a private investigator or lawyer about your security system setup.
About the Author: Mike Ward is the owner and operator of Protection Depot, a leading online provider of wireless security cameras and hidden cameras. For more information about security cameras, please visit http://www.security-cams.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Josh_Ward

Tags: law, laws, personal laws, lawsuite

The 14 Focal Points of Personal Growth - Number 6 is Obedience

By Jeffrey P Brown
To Americans, obedience sounds like a four letter word. In this land of freedom, first amendment rights, a general open society, it is difficult for people to take the word "obedience" into their hearts and cradle it like an adorable and cuddly newborn. After all, just look at what people put on their bumper stickers: The Closer You Get, the Slower I Drive; If You Can Read This You're too Damn Close!; Watch Out for the Moron Behind Me; Warning: I Break Whenever I Feel Like It: Bitch on Board; Diva Mobile; No Fear; Keep Honking While I Reload.

So it isn't too difficult to imagine these people having a problem with this concept. Nevertheless, why is obedience important? Well, consider the fact that if everyone did as they desired on the roadways (and I should qualify that, more than they do already-what I call, creative driving) then there would be a greater number of accidents and chaos. Same with obeying any and all laws. Unfortunately, we do have a problem with obedience so there are a lot of laws. But let's move on to how obedience is personally helpful to you.

When the word obedience is invoked, most have a picture of a school marm leveling a ruler at an unruly student. Or Sister Watch-it-mister about to give the boy who can't keep quiet a good dusting, and then some. But that is not what is being spoken to here. Obedience is an essential element to those who are successful. If you are going to be successful, there is a dire need for obedience to your own laws. Of course, these laws are pretty general, but you accept them, modify them, and make them your own. Without obedience to your personal laws of success, if I may, then there is no success. What do I mean?

Well, in order to be successful, you have to have goals: short, medium and long term. You have to focus on them on a regular basis, keep them fresh in your mind and modify them as you see fit. If we are talking success, most likely you are in business for yourself. There are those who have a job and climb the corporate latter to success (at least I think people still do this); however, because of the instability of the current economic environment, more and more people are going into business for themselves. This is happening because some people see the get-a-job-and-find-the-American-dream matrix for what it is. As I've stated previously, more and more people are falling out of the middle class-most, unfortunately, falling down. It is becoming more and more expensive and almost impossible to make ends meet. Here's some interesting information for you, a testament as to why obedience is imperative. I'll explain in a moment. Bear with me.

By 2004, the family budget looks very different. As noted earlier, although a man is making nearly $800 less than his counterpart a generation ago, his wife's paycheck brings the family to a combined income that is $73,770-a 75 percent increase. But higher expenses have more than eroded that apparent financial advantage. Their annual mortgage payments are more than $10,500. If they have a child in elementary school who goes to daycare after school and in the summers, the family will spend $5,660. If their second child is a pre-schooler, the cost is even higher-$6,920 a year. With both people in the workforce, the family spends more than $8,000 a year on its two vehicles. Health insurance costs the family $1,970, and taxes now take 30 percent (today, it's actually 42 to 50%) of its money. The bottom line: today's median-earning, median-spending middle-class family sends two people into the workforce, but at the end of the day they have about $1,500 less for discretionary spending than their one-income counterparts of a generation ago. (Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Magazine, "The Middle Class on the Precipice", Jan. / Feb 2006)

In the early 2000s, the median income for the majority of families (dual income families) was $73,000, of which $55,600 was for fixed costs (mortgage, child care, health care, car, taxes) while $18,110 was allotted as discretionary income. Not much of a buffer, is it? Most of this money being spent on cloths, food, credit cards, cable / satellite TV, entertainment and so on. Even though the families combined income is a 75% higher than in the 70s, the cost of living adjustment has almost negated any gain. So many are now seeing having a business as the only way to go, where you get great tax breaks not great taxation.

So why is obedience important? Why has obedience to your own principles taken on such great importance? Well, because of downsizing, corporate outsourcing, and mostly because of cost of living, there is a greater and greater need for an alternative to the grind-it-out, let-the-tax-man-take-40%-before-you-even-see-it, climb-the-career-latter mode of operation. It is an outmoded and unsafe way to live, living on the edge, or as Warren says above, the "precipice." The belief that an education and hard work is going to help you make ends meet is a myth and a fantasy. You can certainly make more money with mom and dad both at work with college degrees but it just doesn't cut it like it used to.

I know couples who are making $80,000 and are struggling. In my father's day that was enough money to live comfortably, and we did, but now it's a pipe dream, and even dual incomes can't blow out the pipes. So bottom line, if you are not obedient to a constant vigilance of the economic and political environment (national and international), and an observance of emotion based success principles (many people are smart, creative and insightful but shoot themselves in the foot with sloppy, lazy, downright improper thinking habits) in order to make the money needed to live comfortably and with less damn-those-stinking-bills stress, you, my friend, are in trouble. It is time to wake from the matrices you live in, smell the true economic environment and get going.
Before I close, consider these other issues in regards to obedience:

Obedience to truth. Who wants to work with, associate with, be around someone who isn't obedient here?

Obedience to our spouses and children's welfare.

Obedience to our need to support them.

Obedience to choosing leaders we feel would do the best job in government.

Obedience to knowing on a consistent basis where the money's going, how much you have and where you can get more if you need to.
Jeff has worked as a computer programmer, standup comic, college professor, and entrepreneur. He has been writing for over 25 years: novels, poetry, essays, humor.

He reads anything that isn't moving or tied down: history, science, math, theology, philosophy, marketing, sales, etc.

You can find his current novel Black Body Radiation and the Ultraviolet Catastrophe at http://Amazon.com and http://BarnesandNoble.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeffrey_P_Brown

Tags: law, laws, personal laws, lawsuite

Personal Injury

By Paul Barry
Experiencing accidents is a part of life. Even if you take the strictest precautions, nothing will prepare you when accidents decide to strike. What is worse is that personal injury due to accidents may not be our fault. We have as much chance getting injured due to other people's negligence than our own lack of preparedness. When you are grieved and hassled because of an untimely event, you have to make sure that the person responsible for your accident will answer to your claims.
Personal injuries caused from accidents can affect you in many ways. Simple injures can give you unnecessary inconvenience; minimal but all the more unnecessary. When the injuries are severe, the toll to your lifestyle is much affected. Pretty soon you will be counting the lost hours from work, missed opportunities, and snowballing financial turmoil such as debt and delayed bill payments. Naming a price for the emotional and physical impact of a personal injury due to accidents is very difficult.
To ensure that you are given the compensation well within your rights, approach a third-party that handles personal injury claims. Personal injury consultants evaluate your case and assess the legitimacy of your claim. If they believe that there is a great chance that you can win your accident claim, they will sign up as your solicitor. These companies are instrumental for the claimant who does not fully understand how claims for personal damages work. The lack of information on the part of the claimant will make them vulnerable when the accident insurance company convinces them to take low cash benefits. At the same time, claimants do not know the limits and the process of making claims. Accident claims exist to establish the rights of the claimant and the obligations of the party responsible for the accident.
Accident claims are a grueling process for the unprepared. Insurance companies can bully you into different terms and conditions to force you to settle for lower benefits. In addition, insurance companies may stall the cash benefits such that it will be useless for you when the cash arrives. Personal injury claim companies will guide you in getting your rightful compensation at the earliest possible time. With them on your side, they can act as negotiators so that you can get more for the financial and emotional damage caused by the personal injury.
Personal injury claims consultants can also help you establish a case against the party that you feel is responsible for the accident. Claims can cover traumas due to medical negligence, road traffic accidents because of an unruly driver, or slips and falls because of a wet corridor in a building. Claims companies will help you go after those responsible for your accident. Once you request an assessment regarding your claim, they will verify if a party is at fault. This way, the accident claim can go after the insurance company of the responsible party to collect the victim's compensation.
Companies that help in your personal injury claims adopt a no win no fee policy. No win no fee policy means that if you decide to make a claim with a solicitor, he cannot collect a fee until you win your claim. In addition, the cost of the solicitor should be reimbursed from the insurance company of the other party. Win or lose, you do not have to pay the claims company.
Making a personal injury claim can be a long process. Insurance laws make it hard for victims to file and process their claims with the insurance company. With the help of claims companies, you are armed with information and resources that you can use as leverage against your insurance company.Paul Barry is a freelance copywriter for accidentclaimaid.com experts in personal injury
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Barry