Big Brother

He's watching you, on the sidewalk, on the street, in the intersection, in the stores. The argument goes that if you're doing nothing illegal, then you have nothing to fear. Right.

For the watchers, however, the rules seem to be somewhat different. Try to record a cop on duty, and you can face felony wiretapping charges in some states, and a felony charge of simply recording a policeman in at least three now.

Many police cars have built-in cameras on their dashboards, and some jurisdictions are looking in to having cameras mounted on the cops shoulders. These things sometimes produce useful information, such as the falling-down drunk condition of a stopped driver. On the other hand, when dubious conduct is suggested, the tapes have a way of getting lost in the evidence room.

I don't know why the sensitivity on the part of the police. After all, if you're not doing anything illegal, you have nothing to fear.