Calif. Supreme Court says recording calls violates rights

[kurth]

Court says recording calls violates rights
By TERENCE CHEA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SAN FRANCISCO -- The state Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday that Californians' privacy rights are violated when their telephone conversations are secretly recorded by out-of-state callers. The justices sided with plaintiffs who sued Salomon Smith Barney Inc., now Smith Barney Inc., for secretly recording phone conversations between Atlanta-based brokers and California customers. The plaintiffs argued they should have been warned they were being taped and given the opportunity to refuse. The company claimed its conduct was permissible under Georgia law.

California's 1967 privacy statute requires callers outside the state to get permission before taping a call with a resident, even when the other state allows callers to record the conversation secretly, the court ruled. The justices ordered Smith Barney, a unit of New York-based City Corp., to stop recording phone calls with California residents without their permission.

California is one of 11 states that requires all parties to consent before a conversation is recorded. The state's Invasion of Privacy Act allows criminal fines of up to $2,500 or jail terms up to a year. In the case against Smith Barney, the justices did not grant the plaintiffs' request for monetary damages for past recordings.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Secret_Phone_Recording.html

[thereismore]

1. OK, so now all Jorge Arbusto has to do is put recording apparatuses

into California and all will be dandy.

[LiberalFighter]

3. All parties must still consent to be recorded in California

It is not enough to have recording device stationed in California.

[lindisfarne]

4. If a business says it is recording the phone call, yet I do not consent

(but also do not object to the recording), is this legal? I'm really tired of all the businesses which automatically say "this call may be recorded" and assume that if I don't object, I have consented. I think they should have to get my active consent, in other words, ask me if they may record the phone call, and get an answer from me.

[LiberalFighter]

5. I agree

[Joanne98]

2. Stand up for JUSTICE!