AmazedAtWhatISee, if you are a tourist and you video a street scene of people walking around, you would not be liable under Maryland law, because you did not deliberately and without consent record a conversation which was carried out under a reasonable presumption of privacy. Try again.

slider: It is illegal in Maryland, as explained in the original post, to make an audio recording of a conversation which is reasonably expected to be private, without the consent of all parties involved. Unless you mute your camcorder’s microphone, you make an audio recording at the same time as you make a video recording; this situation does indeed, then, come under Maryland wiretap law.

swathdiver, if O’Keefe committed a crime under Maryland law, he did so while in Maryland. Therefore, yes, we do have a leg to stand on. Try again.

David — Md. Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc. Sec. 10-401, point 3: “Intercept” means the aural or other acquisition of the contents of any wire, electronic, or oral communication through the use of any electronic, mechanical, or other device. You’re not crazy; you’re a deliberate liar, and not a very good one. Try again.

Actually the statute says “Willfully intercept, endeavor to intercept, or procure any other person to intercept or endeavor to intercept, any wire, oral, or electronic communication”. Now call me crazy, but nothing in that video shows them “intercepting” any communications. They were recording, albeit surreptiously, a conversation between themselves and the ACORN workers in an open office/conference room were other people were coming and going(common area maybe?). In addition you can easily hear other voices/babies crying from the other room through the open door, so any reasonable expection of privacy argument should not apply. Just goes to show that even though there are much more pressing matters to deal with in Baltimore, like say murders and other violent crimes, it seems State’s Attorney Jessamy lets her partisanship show.

So, according to this law, if I were a tourist, and I recorded a city street in downtown Baltimore with people walking around, and their voices can be heard on my camcorder, I could face up to 5 years in jail? Or is only when corruption is exposed they invoke this law?
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Major difference: Those areas are common areas. An office or an apartment building where sounds made would not leave the building is not.
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Comment 5:

There’s no phone call. There’s no wire. Nothing was tapped. What’s the deal?
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My understanding is that videotaping is also covered under the law.