I didn't miss your point either. My point is that I don't feel particularly good about breaking the law or encouraging others to do so in order to fight a wrong.
It's the same reason I'm against torturing suspected terrorists. Whatever we gain from breaking the law is not worth what we loose. I prefer to hold the moral high ground.
But like I have always said, it's your site and your rules. I thought about just sitting out this thread, but it bothered me a little last night and so I decided to at least post my point of view. Who knows, maybe I'll change your mind.
Obviously you couched it more in terms of what YOU would do. But I read a "call to action" in there. I'm a little concerned about the same people that didn't know grabbing an image from Google would be an issue also getting burned for invasion of privacy.
Having this content would obviously make for juicy content for the site. But there is a solution that doesn't involve breaking the law. I would propose that someone, maybe you, within the context of "citizen journalist" could contact the lawyers, the photographers, the stock company owners, or any other interested party and let them know that you are reporting on this issue and would like to conduct a recorded interview.
As long as they are made aware that the conversation is being recorded, there is no invasion of privacy issue and I think you will be surprised at the results.
Finally, there are some unfortunate implications that go along with it, but I do get "your" point, that's just not how you would feel comfortable handling it, and disagree with the methods...and that's fine, that's why Matt is doing it, and others feel his rage and indignance too. The battle isn't for everyone. It may involve sacrifice and injury, but for a worthy cause, to some it's worth the price. "My" point here is to show "how" I see things differently! This is ultimately an issue of conscience...I can sleep soundly and peacefully if I "unlawfully" record a conversation with some douchebag that's out to cause me harm. Maybe you can't. People are convicted by their conscience for a number of things...the big question is why? The bible has an interesting verse where God says: "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge!" I know when something is right and wrong because the law of God has been written in my heart. It's wrong to have a law that protects criminal behavior...that's no just law, but is in itself a crime.
@Kyle:
I'm not going to spend a great deal of time arguing your points. Heck, if you live in a state that only requires single-party permission to record phone calls, this conversation may be moot. (In those cases you can just do it.)
My only point is that recording these conversations and then posting them on ELI for everyone to listen to MAY get you into trouble. I suspect that if you were to ask Matt his feelings about crossing the line into the legal gray area TODAY, he may feel slightly different then he did last June. It's easy for us to all say "Hey all's fair in war and this is a war." But the reality is, the actions people take have real repercussions.
If you wish to secretly record your adversary and then post them on this site for all to listen to, trust me I will listen to them and give you feedback on how to handle your case. But I also think it is important that you (and others who wish to record and share their calls) be aware that this can be used against you.
In my general opinion, secretly recording a conversation with a scam artist is fine. Playing it back for trusted friends and advisers to give you advice is smart. Posting it on an open, public, Internet site can (and probably) will get you into legal hot water.
Now if you have the extra several thousand dollars laying around to fight this, and if you feel this is the best use of your time, then by all means, go forth.
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