Is It Illegal to Film Someone in Public?

Where filming crosses the line from legal to illegal: public spaces, private spaces, and the reasonable-expectation-of-privacy rule.

With smartphones in every pocket, this question comes up constantly: at protests, in stores, on the street, and increasingly around neighbors and delivery workers. The core legal concept that governs almost all of it is something called a reasonable expectation of privacy.

The general rule for public spaces

In most U.S. states, you can generally photograph or film people, buildings, and events in public spaces, such as sidewalks, parks, and streets, without needing their permission, because courts have generally held there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in public. This is part of why street photography and public protest footage are broadly legal.

Where it changes: private and semi-private spaces

Filming into places where someone has a reasonable expectation of privacy, such as a home, a restroom, a locker room, a fitting room, or through someone's window, is a very different matter, and many states have specific voyeurism or peeping statutes that criminalize exactly this.

Private property that looks public

A store, restaurant, or office building is technically private property even though the public is invited in, the property owner can generally set and enforce their own filming policy and ask you to stop or leave, even though the underlying act of filming is not automatically illegal.

Audio changes the analysis

If your video also captures audio of a conversation, that can trigger a completely separate set of wiretap/consent laws (see our recording-a-phone-call guide), video-only filming and video-with-audio recording are not governed by identical rules.

Frequently asked

Recommended resources

As an Amazon Associate, we may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.

Related reading