Court OKs Covert iPhone Audio Recording

Tootech writes "Using an iPhone to secretly record a conversation is not a violation of the Wiretap Act if done for legitimate purposes, a federal appeals court has ruled. 'The defendant must have the intent to use the illicit recording to commit a tort of crime beyond the act of recording itself,' the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. Friday's decision, which involves a civil lawsuit over a secret audio recording produced from the 99-cent Recorder app, mirrors decisions in at least three other federal appeals courts."

Comments

Re:It's still illegal in Illinois

[hedwards]

I'm sorry, but if that's how you talk to cops, you kind of deserve whatever happens to you. You never argue with a police officer, ever. If you disagree there's a venue to handle that, it's called court. And you're even allowed to have an adviser that we like to call a lawyer help you out there. Arguing with cops whether you're ultimately right or not isn't going to do you any favors, LEOs generally have some degree of discretion. It also can very easily come back to bite you on the ass when they start looking more closely at what you're doing, there's no law against them being particularly stringent in writing every applicable ticket or citation that applies to the situation. Just stick to the facts, comply with what you're told to do and if anything happens you can always take it to court.

People don't generally end up being beaten that are complying with the orders they've been given. Sure it happens, but it's hardly a common occurrence.

Re:It's still illegal in Illinois

[BitZtream]

Sucks to be you, here its entirely legal to record anything as long as one person in the conversation is aware of it.

I can walk into your house and record everything that happens without your consent because I gave myself consent.

Most states that aren't run by the mafia probably are a lot different than Illinois.

Re:It's still illegal in Illinois

[ErikZ]

The people who fired Sherrod owned the complete, unedited copy of the tape.

AND you're being misleading. For everyone who doesn't know about the issue, the "Edit" was to cut the tape. You know, instead of playing the whole thing, you only show the 2 minutes of relevant material.

Re:Most states already have an "either party" stat

[BitZtream]

Yes, because the rest of the world gives a flying fuck what the idiots in California do ... in case you haven't noticed, most of the rest of the country looks at California as 'how to do it ... the wrong way'

Let me know when someone else cares what California says.

Federal and other states don't work that way. I assure you my state isn't going to take me into custudy and ship me off to you for the charge. The feds aren't going to get involved either. So great, California thinks they can tell me what to do ... good for them, I'm not visiting any time soon, and by the time I do you won't be able to pay for your police force anyway so its not like you're going to have the money to arrest and prosecute me for violating your privacy ... on the other hand, you've probably been caught committing a far more damaging crime in the phone conversation.

Its good that you think your corrupted politicians coming up with ways to protect themselves from getting caught is a good idea. The rest of us really don't care.