Many retail stores display signs that warn of hidden cameras. Are they required by law to notify their customers that they are being videotaped?
by 
Jack Scotty
ANSWERS: 4
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I couldn't find much on this, so I'm going to hazard an informed guess. I suspect that it has to do with an "expectation" of privacy. So, in the public areas of the store, where anyone is free to observe your actions, I doubt that they have an obligation to inform you. In a private area, say a dressing room, you would have to be informed that you may be observed or taped. I think the hidden camera warnings are there for the preventative effect, which is what the stores would prefer rather than catching people. I'm not an attorney. This is just a well reasoned and insightful personal opinion.
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In the United States, warnings are displayed so as to prevent court action stating that the organization in question violated legal guidelines for monitoring their store. It also serves as a deterrent to crime. This is especially true for stores that have dressing rooms as its illegal to monitor in those areas--there are some retail stores--such as grocery stores that do not tell people they are being monitored---department stores such as Gimbels and John Wanamakers used close circut TV monitoring, but didn't notify their customers that camers were in use. This was primarily because those two stores ( where I worked in during HS and College) used in-store detectives for close monitoring and TV cameras for wide angle security monitoring.
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No. the posted signs are enough warning. retail stores, parking lots, and banks, are not required by law, to advise their customer, that they are being video taped. a classic example is the camera, at all atms,
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NO. If the tapes and recordings are used for security purposes to instrument the law and security upon the premises of preservation of safety, there is no legal mandate for the warning. If that is the purpose, than they are to no responsibility of such. The main point of posting these signs is to deter theft, not to warn of a lack of privacy, since no reasonable expectation of privacy exist in a "public facility" as most stores are considered to be. In general, the use of warning signs is discretionary, and nothing more.
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