Notice to EEs re:Audio/Visual Security in place
JWFULCRUM
1 Post
What is Maryland law regarding notification of audio/visual security systems in place to monitor work areas? We are private firm. I haven't been able to locate any specifics regarding state laws. Anyone?
Comments
"Md. Code Ann., Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 10-402 (1999): Where a person is a party to a wire, oral or electronic communication and all parties have consented, recording is legal. But all-party consent will not make the recording legal if there is a criminal or tortious purpose behind it.
Disclosing the contents of intercepted communications with reason to know they were obtained unlawfully is a crime as well.
Violations of the law are felonies punishable by imprisonment for not more than five years and a fine of not more than $10,000. Civil liability for violations can include the greater of actual damages, $100 a day for each day of violation or $1,000, along with attorney fees and litigation costs. Md. Code Ann., Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 10-410 (1999).
State courts have interpreted the laws to protect communications only when the parties have a reasonable expectation of privacy, and thus, where a person in a private apartment was speaking so loudly that residents of an adjoining apartment could hear without any sound enhancing device, recording without the speaker's consent did not violate the wiretapping law. Malpas v. Maryland, 695 A.2d 588 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1997); see also Benford v. American Broadcasting Co., 649 F. Supp. 9 (D. Md. 1986) (salesman's presentation in stranger's home not assumed to carry expectation of privacy)."