I thought I'd post this since there was a discussion with a poster who had no clue what he was talking about in a previous thread about how privacy laws and potential tort liability impacts people posting videos here or anywhere else.

Obviously, there are state laws that are specific in some cases, so, for instance, some States don't allow you to tape phone conversations without the consent of both parties, some State do.

Generally speaking though, here is what common law is.

If you are taping someone in a public place there is no liability in any situation because people in public have no reasonable expectation of privacy - the key question for civil liability in privacy issues is whether not the aggrieved party had a reasonable expectation of privacy.

If you film someone in public or in an area open to the public the person has no reasonable expectation of privacy and you are not likely violated any state law or subjecting yourself to any tort liability - unless as I mentioned before there is a specific State law in the particular state you are in.

Finally, even if you are filming someone in private who has a reasonable expectation of privacy (think peeping cases like with Erin Andrews), the aggrieved party has to show damages. In the Andrews case the tape was posted online so damages were not hard to show - they don't have to be financial damages - they could be emotional pain or suffering.

In most cases filming people even in private where their obviously is a reasonable expectation of privacy is not something someone can sue for because showing damages is extremely hard and not worth the effort unless the perpetrator has deep pockets.