[asterisk-biz] Call Recording and Legal Issues in the US

Matt Florell astmattf at gmail.com
Wed Jan 28 13:56:00 CST 2009


Hello,

While there is only a requirement of single-party notification that a
conversation is being recorded at the federal level, there are 12
states in the USA that have a requirement that all parties in a phone
call must be notified that a call is recorded. Here is the list of
those states:
- California
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Illinois
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Montana
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- Pennsylvania
- Washington

All of the states above allow for criminal charges, and all but
Montana allow for Civil penalties as well. The penalties vary from
state-to-state, but often depend on what was done with the recording
if it has even been kept.

MATT---



On 1/28/09, SIP <sip at arcdiv.com> wrote:
> The answer is that, unfortunately for you, you can be sued regardless of
>  what sort of waiver your customer signs. The argument being that your
>  customer may not know all the applicable laws regarding his rights in
>  the situation before he signs the waiver (waivers are not terribly
>  effective protection in court).
>
>  Whether or not whomever is suing you will WIN the suit will rely mostly
>  on the law, and you may or may not come out okay in a legal position,
>  but the ensuing costs of fighting the legal battle CAN lead to a
>  bankruptcy situation.  And, of course, if you're seeking funding rounds
>  or business loans, no one will want to give money to a company that may
>  lose it all in a legal battle.
>
>  Unless you're absolutely certain of the laws of the states in which you
>  do business, I would recommend against aiding in the recording of calls
>  by customers.
>
>  N.
>
>
>
>  Peter Beckman wrote:
>  > I'm aware that in some states and in some cases there are differing rules
>  > about who and when a caller or callee can or cannot record a phone call.
>  >
>  > As a service provider, I can easily enable my users to record calls on
>  > demand, for only some of calls, or for all calls.
>  >
>  > The question is, do I need to, in our Terms of Service, specifically say
>  >
>  >      "The user is responsible for following all applicable laws regarding
>  >      call recording.  The user will hold harmless Company and its vendors
>  >      partners and subsidiaries for violations of any laws regarding call
>  >      recording."
>  >
>  > Or would we be covered by a general you can't sue us clause.
>  >
>  > Please -- no conjecture, only reply if you actually know from a good legal
>  > source the answer.
>  >
>  > Beckman
>  > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  > Peter Beckman                                                  Internet Guy
>  > beckman at angryox.com                                 http://www.angryox.com/
>  > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  >
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