Actually, I was wrong.  Ohio has addressed the issue of visitors bring into the county offices their own reproduction equipment.

A county recorder may, for the purposes of protecting the records in his custody, maintaining the efficient operation of his office, and ensuring that other members of the public are not disturbed, adopt reasonable rules governing the use of copying equipment brought into his office by members of the public.  A recorder may not, however, absolutely bar the use of all such equipment within his office. (OAG No. 2004-011).

ORC § 317.32(I) does not require or authorize a county recorder to impose the fees described therein upon a member of the public who is using a digital camera or other equipment to make copies of documents in the recorder's office, where the equipment is not provided by the county recorder.  ORC § 149.43 requires a county recorder to make the public records he maintains available for inspection, without charge, to members of the public, including those who bring their own equipment to make copies of the records they inspect.  (OAG No. 2004-011).

This pretty much became irrelevant once the majority of counties began allowing us all to make our own copies for 10 to 25 cents per page. 

Virginia has banned all cameras and audio recorders from the court houses- all camera phones have to be returned to your vehicle or surrendered-this has been the case for many years- they just don't allow any cameras at all- it does not cause any problem either- copies have to be paid for at the court house at the rate of $.50 per  page- unless certification is requested. The metal detectors that confront you upon entering always make one show what they are bringing in- so the sheriff's can allow or reject what ever you have on you, and they don't let any cameras in at all.

Steve Meinecke

You can't get a decent phone these days without a camera.  While I wouldn't bother trying to use my phone to take pictures of the documents to avoid paying the copy fees, I would be exteremely upset if I couldn't take my phone in to the courthouse just because it happened to also have a camera built-in.  That seems to be over-stepping in my opinion.

I have a phone without a camera- so I can take it into the court houses- maybe it isn't "decent" but it works. I think the rules we have in Va are for the exclusive rights to provide copies and or documents that the Clerk retains for itself. The Clerk is the sole source for all copies-so they protect their rights by limiting any other way to make copies. This also applies to the tiny audio recorders now available- they don't let them in either- maybe for the court recorder that has the sole rights to the transcripts that are produced from the court cases. We  have had this restriction here for years and it doesn't seem to inter fer with how we do business or anything else-we just work with in the rules that the courts and the judges have set.

Steve Meinecke

Just to add another twist regarding Virginia - I cover mostly rural counties and use my camera phone (for calls) all the time without incident.  One county, on the edge of my range, stopped me, one time, and that was because my phone was in my pocket and they noticed it.  So I think it is like a lot in Virginia Clerk's Offices - it depends who the Clerk and/or Judge is.

The Office where I was stopped was a more modern building with one entrance to all the facilities.  I can understand tighter security there.

In regards to the copy fee issue.  We pay $0.50 a page here.  It didn't used to bother me too much when I thought the counties benefited from the fee.  I have since found out from one of my local Clerk's that the fee goes to the Commonwealth (aptly named - all of our wealth is common to Richmond.)  The Clerk's (at least in the rural counties I cover) pay all their own expenses in regards to equipment, paper, toner, etc. without assistance from this fee.  Several of our Clerks bill for copies monthly.  The manpower and postage for the billing, receiving, tracking of fees is not covered by the fees.  That bothers me, especially since the Commonwealth apparently (I haven't done an exacting fact check on this part yet, so have mercy if I'm off) audits the records of copy fees and payments.  Here I thought I was paying for copies, apparently I'm paying for Virginia to improve its automated records systems so foreign searchers can have more access and avoid a copy fee.

In regards to the Clerk being the sole source - Virginia counties are going on-line more and more, which alters the source for all copies considerably.

The sole source reference applies to "in the court house" only- they can't do anything about how many copies I print out at my computer-( and I don't actually print any copies-all on Paperport). The clerk's also get to keep 4 out of the 5 dollars charged on each recording for the "technology fee" , so they make out OK . They also get to keep a good portion of any "on-line" fee they charge- The Commonwealth only suggests a $25/month fee- but there are few that only charge that much, so we pay and they keep!!!

I can understand the more rural court houses not enforcing the camera phone rules- all you have to do is be polite and you probably can get in without any trouble, unless you are a stranger!!! I worked in the Northern Virginia Counties and you can't get into those with a big belt buckle without setting off the metal detectors.

Hey, Steve, we're nice to strangers down here - as long as you're not too strange.

I'm glad that they keep portions of the fees you mentioned.  They're responsible for maintaining the documents (scanned and otherwise.)  If you take the responsibility you should receive the compensation.

Lynne: I know you are nice to strangers- I enjoyed visiting those clerk's offices that were a little more "remote"- they just had an old home type of atmosphere and the people that worked there, usually ones that had been there for many years, were very nice, once one broke through the barriers they put up to protect themselves from the "creeps" that seemed to always show up in those places- there were always some of the city people that arrived demanding this or that- made a bad name for those of us that appreciated the staff and were patient to flow with their time frame. 

My business partner and I always said it was easy to find the court house in those out of the way counties - just look for the flag poles and the cannons- and you had arrived!!

Steve

Digital cameras should not need a flash as they can compensate for low light AND the lighting in a public office controlled by OSHA work environment standards should provide sufficient light to not strain eyes of the union workers.

San Mateo County, California tried to stop pictures being taken of their computer screen displays of digitally imaged documents by citing a (nonexistant) contract with the software provider that would violate the software copyright. This was smoke and mirros and quickly dispelled, although misunderstandings by their underpaid, part-time, non-union information desk staff still occur with them attempting to stop such efforts and being periodically rebuffed for doing so.

In closing, 2 types of copies have been free for as long as public records have existed: (1) the use of synapses and dendrites to memorize document data seen by the eyes is unregulated and untaxed and can be walked out of any public building without fee; (2) a pen or pencil and paper (or a paintbrush and canvass for that matter) can be used without fee to copy a docuement. Hence, a camera is but an extension of the same principles. Anyone who is physcially disabled enought to NOT have a photographic memory and artistic talent (which includes me) is given fair use rights to have a special needs device like a camera to "remember" the pertinent data.

Naturally, state lawmakers will need to regulate both brain processes and pencil lead if they were to really contemplate the controlling of copies.  Arizona appears to have the right lead in putting copies online for easy web viewing.