Call recording

1683 Views 3 Replies 3 Participants Last post by Cinhil, Feb 23, 2008

xmirage2kx

Discussion Starter · Feb 23, 2008

You know how when you call just about anywhere these days (cell phone company, bank, computer help line, etc) a little prerecorded message plays before the employee answers that says something to the extent of "For quality and training purposes this call may be monitored or recorded"

Can you opt out of that? If you do not want them to record your call can you tell them you do not consent to being recorded and have it carry any legal weight? I know many of these calls go out of state, some even out of country would either case make a difference?

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Cinhil

· #2 · Feb 23, 2008

I believe that there is a Federal Statute on this, somewhere, which states you must be informed if a call you are on is being recorded. If you don't want to be recorded you can "opt out" however, who is to say that the given company will actually obey your wishes?
It may also be a statute which may have been overturned or replaced as
it may be up to individual states to determine telecommunication laws within themselves. When I was younger I believe it was something which was transferred to Federal authority.
Of course though, it looks like I would still need to do some research on this issue.

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Ruger Collector

· #3 · Feb 23, 2008

Federal law allows recording of phone calls and other electronic communications with the consent of at least one party to the call. A majority of the states and territories have adopted wiretapping statutes based on the federal law, although most also have extended the law to cover in-person conversations. Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia permit individuals to record conversations to which they are a party without informing the other parties that they are doing so. These laws are referred to as "one-party consent" statutes, and as long as you are a party to the conversation, it is legal for you to record it. (Nevada also has a one-party consent statute, but the state Supreme Court has interpreted it as an all-party rule.)

Twelve states require, under most circumstances, the consent of all parties to a conversation. Those jurisdictions are California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington. Be aware that you will sometimes hear these referred to inaccurately as "two-party consent" laws. If there are more than two people involved in the conversation, all must consent to the taping.

Regardless of the state, it is almost always illegal to record a conversation to which you are not a party, do not have consent to tape, and could not naturally overhear.

http://www.rcfp.org/taping/index.html

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Cinhil

· #4 · Feb 23, 2008

Thanks Ruger Collector. That is what I had thought the current law was, but didn't have time to verify this morning. I think this law was effective in the early 90's, but I could be wrong.
The info is helpful so thanks for verifying for us.

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