NCJ Number
101354
Date Published
1986
Length
107 pages
Annotation
This handbook provides information on State legislation regarding the recording of one's own telephone conversation with another unsuspecting person.
Abstract
Several States prohibit all such monitoring and impose civil and criminal penalties on persons who intercept, record, or publish their own conversations. Some allow victims of secretly recorded conversations to recover damages from the recorder or from a person who reveals the conversation's contents. Other States and the Federal Government have few restrictions on secret recording so long as a party to the conversation agrees to interception. The handbook includes a review of Federal law and pending legislation on related topics, a warning to lawyers wishing to record their conversations, and an overview of the problem of privilege. In addition, the legality, case law, legislative authority, and sanctions for wiretapping and eavesdropping are presented for each State, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Appendixes provide a summary of State laws, the American Bar Association formal opinion, and the Bar Association of New York City opinion.