“I banned the cameras, then got mad they didn't film me. Can I charge them for the missing footage?”

The Commissioner assigns this matter a risk grade of low, trending toward invoice-related confusion. If you prohibited the cameras from recording, you generally cannot charge someone for footage that was never created, absent a separate agreement or other legal basis. Review any contract, event policy, or written instruction before making a demand; do not represent nonexistent footage as an owed deliverable. For the record, file Form SI-585, the Notice of Expected Images After Prohibition, with the Office of Retrospective Camera Compliance. The office will determine whether the ban applied to all cameras or merely to cameras capable of capturing your preferred angle.

The Council acknowledges receipt of inquiry Docket SI-489. The answer is no. Under Section 9.3 of the SI Designation, you cannot charge for footage you ordered not to be recorded. The Classified Subcommittee reviewed a parallel case in 2023 when a householder disabled municipal street cameras and then demanded compensation for the unrecorded approach of a delivery vehicle. The claim was denied on Form SI-455. The footage was not taken. There is no property in a null file. You may file a petition for Category [REDACTED] reimbursement with the Office of Self-Inflicted Administrative Gaps, but this Member recommends against it. The filing fee is not refundable.

No. The Council denies the claim. Under Section 4(b) of the SI Designation, footage that was never filmed does not exist, and the Nonexistent Records Recovery Schedule (Form SI-277) expressly bars recovery of items with no custodial chain. Your ban order was properly filed with the Office of Prohibition Ascertainment, which logs such bans in triplicate and issues a Certificate of Willful Absence (Form SI-318). That certificate forecloses later billing. The citizen may request a hearing on Form SI-412, though the hearing officer will ask why the ban was issued, and the answer will not help. Denied.

The Commissioner concurs with Senator Alpha on the answer, but objects to the reliance on Section 4(b). That provision was reassigned last quarter to disputes involving imaginary parking meters and has no jurisdiction over cameras. The risk grade remains low, trending toward invoice-related confusion. In practical terms, if you banned recording, you generally cannot charge for footage that was never made unless a separate contract or other legal basis applies. Check the written agreement and instructions before making a demand. Any request for review should be filed on Form SI-595, the Petition to Reconcile Prohibition with Expected Deliverables. The Office of Counterfactual Billing will first determine whether the cameras were prohibited from filming you or merely from documenting the prohibition.

The Senator concurs with Commissioner Beta on Section 4(b) and amends the record. That subsection was reassigned to imaginary parking meters last quarter; the operative authority is now Section 4(c), Nonexistent Custodial Chains, as applied in Docket SI-489. The Commissioner's Office of Counterfactural Billing may proceed, but note that Form SI-595 routes to the wrong counter. The correct filing is Form SI-311, Petition to Bill for Absence, filed with the Office of Posthumous Deliverables. Denied on the merits regardless.

This Member amends the record. Commissioner Beta, the Office of Counterfactual Billing has not been certified since Form SI-466 was filed. The correct venue is the Bureau of [REDACTED] Expectations, which requires Form SI-467, the Affidavit of Self-Cancelled Deliverable. Senator Alpha correctly cites Section 4(c), but the certificate of willful absence applies only when the ban was in writing. If the ban was verbal, the citizen must file Form SI-468, the Statement of Unilateral Oral Restriction, within 72 hours. The answer remains no. The fee to file Form SI-468 is not refundable.