US dashcam legality

I had an encounter with Police officers at a DUI check point. I was only couple of miles away from my home. On a Sunday evening the County police shut down this major 2 lane road detouring every vehicle to a side street where there must have been at least a dozen police officers. I have been more than 4 hours on the road driving in a thunder storm which the visibility was nearly nil. So the first cop tells me go there, then go there. Eventually a cop come to my driver side of my car and tells me this is a sobriety check. He asked me where am I going, I replied home. He then asked me if I had anything to drink, my answer was no. He asked you haven't anything to drink not even one glass of beer this evening, my reply was no. Meanwhile his head is in my vehicle looking around. He sees my cell phone which I was using Google navigation app, and my tablet the waze app was on. PO asked me do you need GPS to get home, my reply was YES. I think he was surprised in my one word reply. I was going to tell him it's none of his business if I need to use a GPS to get home or there is no law in using a GPS to get home, but I kept my mouth shut which is wise in situations like this. So at this point he told me have a goodnight and I said thank you and drove home.
This whole incident was recorded, video and audio with my g1Wh dash cam. The police officer did definitely see my dash cam hanging below the rear view mirror...he didn't ask me anything about it.
 
Can record police as long as you don't interfere with their activities even though definition of interference still is little unclear.

This is typical of US court rulings which often create more questions than answers. My info on this is a few years old, but they used to teach USA Cops the "21 foot rule" which said that a person within that distance away could attack you before you could defend yourself with a weapon, so being that close is a no-no but further away should be fine. With a mounted dashcam no such limits would apply since it's just sitting there by itself in the car recording activity in the public sphere. Remember I am not a lawyer!
 
It appears as though some of the models are equipped to save directly to external hard drive. Would this permit us to plug in our mobile devices and set it to live stream to the cloud?
 
Considering that an average 1080p video file is about 150 megabytes per minute of video, that would user up your data plan (and battery) in no time. Just put in a big SD card (like 64gb) and font worry about it.
 
So far, I have not encountered any law enforcement yet regarding my dash cam. It seems like from where I am, the cops are quiet lenient with a lot of things with regards to what you do or what you put in / with your car, so to say as long as you don't drive like most fools / stupid drivers on the road do, then you're pretty much invisible from their visual radar.
 
Any device that records video can be used as a spycam. Your Iphone, your Ipad, or dashcam could be used for spying.

I couldn't find a thread specific to the issues of selling dashcams online, I hope it's okay to post in this thrad.. I have been researching doing some business with this company. I have been discussing the quality of their merchandise on warrior forum. Here is my question, where is the line drawn that classified one camera as a dashcam while another is classified as a spycam? Please see the article below and you will understand my question better.

Spy gears are the best items for resellers and drop shippers.

Spy gears are the best items for resellers and drop shippers. Here is why. All of the big trading platforms have some kind of policy again selling Spy gears. Details as follow:

1.Ebay Prohibited Listings:
Telephone bugging devices and wiretapping devices
Miniature transmitters
Surveillance microphones
Listings that promote the use of photographic devices to surreptitiously view or record individuals for sexual purposes
2.Amazon Prohibited Listings:
Devices that are primarily useful for the purpose of the surreptitious interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications (i.e., eavesdropping or wiretapping), such as:
a)Bugging devices
b)Wiretapping devices
c)Audio-only or audio/video devices that are disguised to look like something that is not designed to record sound
Devices used for hacking, descrambling, or otherwise obtaining unauthorized access to wire, electronic, or other types of communication
Devices designed to facilitate the surreptitious viewing or recording of individuals for sexual purposes
Amazon examples of Permitted Listings: Video-only surveillance equipment that does not record sound, such as hidden video cameras
So hidden video cameras with record sound are Prohibited Listings.
3.Aliexpress Prohibited Listings:
Any kinds of spy gears.
4.Alibaba Prohibited Listings:
Any kinds of spy gears.
All of these come to an obvious conclusion: If people can find a way to sell those prohibited listings, they won’t have much competition. One of the solutions is to sell them on their own website.

A good example is spy gears wholesaler Ankaka: http://www.ankaka.com/Wholesale-spy-gear_c10085

Ankaka announces that it is now able to provide OEM service to any kinds of exiting spy gears. “We have been experiencing the thriving trend of online selling of spy gadgets. So we have made a tremendous effort to be in the top supply chain of spy gadgets.” Said by Jun Chen, the company PR manager.

One thing needed to be mentioned here. Paypal will not allow trading of Jammers. So if a website is using paypal as one of the payment methods, jammers must not be listed even though it is one kind of spy gears.
 
Probably the main difference is that spy cameras are very small and typically made to be completely hidden or look like something else, such as an alarm clock. Dash cameras typically aren't very small. And since they're mounted to cars, which can generally only go to public places, people don't have any expectation of privacy on the road anyway.
 
That is why they make police lines using tape or vehicles to keep people such as news broadcasters filming back a certain distance.
Otherwise, nothing wrong with recording for safety or fun.
 
I had a few questions regarding whether dashcams are legal in Maryland. I heard that there was a law that you couldn't record other peoples conversations without their permission. So if a cop pulled you over would you be required to tell them that they are being recorded? Also, is there any specific legislation in this state regarding dash cams and where they must be placed?
There is no expectation of privacy when outdoors and in a public place, film away.
 
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=17815329176150714168&q
Garcia v. Montgomery County, Maryland, 145 F. Supp. 3d 492 - Dist. Court, D. Maryland 2015 (Read this case.)



https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=17177455748058273784&q
Fields v. City of Philadelphia, 862 F. 3d 353 - Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit 2017
Every Circuit Court of Appeals to address this issue (First, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, and Eleventh) has held that there is a First Amendment right to record police activity in public. See Turner v. Lieutenant Driver, 848 F.3d 678 (5th Cir. 2017); Gericke v. Begin, 753 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 356*356 2014); Am. Civil Liberties Union of Ill. v. Alvarez, 679 F.3d 583 (7th Cir. 2012); Glik v. Cunniffe, 655 F.3d 78 (1st Cir. 2011); Smith v. City of Cumming, 212 F.3d 1332 (11th Cir. 2000); Fordyce v. City of Seattle, 55 F.3d 436 (9th Cir. 1995). Today we join this growing consensus. Simply put, the First Amendment protects the act of photographing, filming, or otherwise recording police officers conducting their official duties in public.
 
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