Out of curiosity if I wanted to place microphones in random public places and record could I? Isn't it legal to take someones photo in public? So could I also place a camera where I'd like and record people?
It depends on states, but almost every state falls into the classification of one-party or all-party. In one-party states, at least one person being recorded must be aware of the recording. In all-party states, all parties being recorded must be informed.
These laws were originally written for telephone tapping, but my understanding is that they have been used in cases of bugging as well, even when no phone was involved.
Just curious what the workarounds are really. If the wiretap style "one party" rules were applied then it seems you could just make sure that you get your own audio on there too; or with audiovisual recording you could sit in the shot somewhere and record people so long as you also captured your own voice. It would seem intent primarily to record others (as opposed to it being incidental to the recording you made) would be close to impossible to prove under such circumstances.
almost every state falls into the classification of one-party or all-party.
I should add; if this were not the case, then manufactures of modern gadgets would be much less likely to have active monitoring of your microphone, for fear of how that action could be interpreted in court. Siri, what are your thoughts on this?
If someone does have an expectation of privacy in public (which does not necessarily seem clear to me), you would be engaging in unlawful surveillance. Whispered conversations in public may be protected. The language used by CA law is: "circumstance in which the parties to the communication may reasonably expect that the communication may be overheard or recorded." See: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&gr...
In CA, video recording laws are more liberal. That's why you see surveillance cameras all over the place in cities (and increasingly in residential suburban or rural neighborhoods as well).