QUESTION
Is it legal for an adult to video record 6 and 10 year old girls in my backyard from their yard?
Asked on Apr 17th, 2017 on Personal Injury - Montana
More details to this question:
My brother in law’s 10 year old daughter and a friend of hers were playing in their backyard. A few hours later, the Sheriff showed up to my brother in-laws house. The neighbor called saying that the kids were yelling at them. My brother in law was working on his truck about 15-20 feet away from the kids playing and never heard them yelling and There is a 6' privacy fence dividing the properties). The sheriff said the neighbor had video recordings of at least 3 times with the children (his 6 year old and 10 year old) in their own back yard but was only there to investigate the neighbors complaint. When my brother in-law asked the sheriff, if it was illegal to record his children on their private property, the sheriff told them to call an attorney for legal advice. Can the neighbor legally record the two minor children on their own property? Is there anything my brother in-law can do to stop the neighbor from continually recording his kids, legally? Can I sue press some kind of charges, call the Sheriff to have his own complaint?
1 ANSWER
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YES . Generally, it is NOT illegal to videotape children or adults outside of a building. That is a public area. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy, even in your backyard, especially in the age of drones and digital cameras. I wonder how much noise the children were making and whether they may have been engaging in disrespectful behavior towards the neighbor? Why would he go to the trouble of gathering evidence, calling law enforcement and then showing it to them? Any implication of child abuse, pornography, or invasion of privacy is not plausible. I suggest that you ignore your neighbor, monitor your children and move on with more important things. Escalating negative interactions with your neighbor will only lead to problems which the justice system is not suited to resolve. What do you think a judge could do? The involvement of the sheriff means it has gone too far in my opinion. Throttling back the situation will not be easy but that is my advice. The other option is to move.
Answered on Jul 14th, 2017 at 10:42 AM