CST Legal and Ethical Considerations 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which amendment to the U.S. Constitution is MOST directly invoked when challenging government-conducted surveillance?
- First Amendment
- Second Amendment
- Fourth Amendment (Correct answer)
- Sixth Amendment
Correct answer: Fourth Amendment
The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government, forming the constitutional basis for most challenges to government surveillance.
Question 2: In a 'two-party consent' (all-party consent) state, recording a phone call legally requires:
- Consent from the person initiating the call only
- Consent from all parties to the conversation (Correct answer)
- A court order regardless of consent
- Written consent filed with the state attorney general
Correct answer: Consent from all parties to the conversation
All-party (two-party) consent states require every participant in a conversation to consent before the conversation may be legally recorded.
Question 3: A surveillance system for a healthcare facility captures footage of patients receiving treatment. Which regulation MOST directly applies to handling and protecting this video data?
- FERPA
- HIPAA Privacy Rule (Correct answer)
- Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
- COPPA
Correct answer: HIPAA Privacy Rule
HIPAA's Privacy Rule covers protected health information (PHI), and video footage showing identifiable patients receiving medical treatment can constitute PHI requiring HIPAA-compliant safeguards.
Question 4: The Katz v. United States (1967) Supreme Court decision is significant to surveillance law because it established:
- The right of employers to monitor employee email
- The 'reasonable expectation of privacy' test replacing purely property-based analysis (Correct answer)
- That wiretapping requires physical trespass to be unconstitutional
- Federal licensing requirements for surveillance technicians
Correct answer: The 'reasonable expectation of privacy' test replacing purely property-based analysis
Katz established the two-part reasonable expectation of privacy test: a subjective expectation that society recognizes as objectively reasonable determines Fourth Amendment protection.
Question 5: When retaining surveillance footage, a best practice from an ethical and legal standpoint is to:
- Keep all footage indefinitely for potential future use
- Follow a documented retention policy aligned with legal requirements and delete footage when retention periods expire (Correct answer)
- Store footage only on local drives not connected to any network
- Transfer all footage ownership to the client immediately upon capture
Correct answer: Follow a documented retention policy aligned with legal requirements and delete footage when retention periods expire
A documented retention policy that complies with applicable laws and regulations ensures footage is kept as long as legally required and securely destroyed afterward, minimizing privacy risks.
Question 6: Under the Video Voyeurism Prevention Act of 2004, it is a federal crime to capture images of a person's private areas without consent in locations where the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy. Which setting would MOST likely trigger this statute?
- A hotel lobby with posted camera notices
- A department store dressing room (Correct answer)
- A public parking garage
- A bank ATM vestibule
Correct answer: A department store dressing room
Dressing rooms are locations where individuals have a clear reasonable expectation of privacy regarding their private areas, making covert imaging there a federal crime under the Video Voyeurism Prevention Act.
Question 7: A client asks a CST to provide access to surveillance footage to a third-party insurance investigator without a subpoena. The MOST appropriate action is to:
- Provide access immediately since the client requested it
- Verify the client has authority to authorize this disclosure and confirm it does not violate applicable privacy laws before complying (Correct answer)
- Refuse all third-party disclosures regardless of circumstances
- Require the investigator to provide law enforcement credentials first
Correct answer: Verify the client has authority to authorize this disclosure and confirm it does not violate applicable privacy laws before complying
Before releasing footage to third parties, a responsible technician confirms the requesting party's authority and ensures the disclosure complies with applicable privacy statutes and contractual obligations.
CST Legal and Ethical Considerations 3
Which amendment to the U.S.
Constitution is MOST directly invoked when challenging government-conducted surveillance?