Originally Posted by jaguar717:
Privacy laws apply to individuals in private settings--I can't climb your fence, open your window, and stick a mic inside.
If you run out in the street and do something stupid, you have no claims to privacy because you're in public view. You don't get to have the guys taping you jailed to shut them up.
Likewise, public officials have no such claims to privacy when they're dealing with public funding (ie my paycheck). ACORN is a public entity committing public actions with public funding.
You bring up a good point. If ACORN does sue, as I read it, the likely defense would be that this was a public meeting and there was no reasonable expectation of privacy. One could argue that since this was in a public place of business and the meetings were held in a public area of the building and/or not behind closed doors, and that ACORN does provide general advice that's publicly available, there was no reasonable expectation of privacy. On the other hand, if they were discussing personal tax and financial information there usually is an expectation of privacy. Although they did state that no forms were ever filled out so there was no real transfer of private personal information.