Yes and I am the performer and I have to right to say:" Please people you can't record me while I'm performing for you, I'm not like your girlfriend"

..ok that could be rude ...however it's our show and taking control of it does not look like a bad idea...as much as possible...

I've probably been on Youtube more times than I care to know, and even then they come back and tell me they've watched it over and over and still don't know how I do it... And that feels pretty good.

I've even offered to play to a person's phone for the folks back home, provided they let the folks back home see them being generous to my hat. That usually either results in the phone being put away, or at least a tenner being put into the hat.

If they're going to do it whether you like it or not, you might as well have fun with it and try to get them to give something back. And I'm not insecure about the video thing, either. If your show won't stand up to video, you have a lot of improving to do. I've watched videos of myself, and as painful as it can be, it's really a great motivation to improve the chops.

And even if it's rude for them to record it, I would never be rude in return. Making demands of strangers (especially the cheeky kind) never gets you anything good, in the long run, because then they know they've got you scared and upset, and they like that. If it comes down to it and you can't stand being recorded, just tell them the magic doesn't work when it's being recorded or something, and just stop until they put the phone away.

"Oh, darn, I'm so sorry, but my trained invisible spider monkey is afraid of cellphones. Please stop, she's clawing me up inside my pants!"

And really, that guy who's out to debunk magic tricks, I just feel sorry for him. He's the sort of person who makes it clear to the whole world that he's a rube, while being the only one who doesn't see it. Catching a busker on an off day is just such an important thing in his world; it's a shame he doesn't have a real life.

You have the right to say; "Please don't record me." But you can't tell them they CAN'T record you. You're out on a public street, you can be recorded like anything else.

You can not tell to stay out of your rope circle...or when to move and what to do because they are free and it's a public place...but you do..

However at the moment I would be very happy to have this problem...