Interesting Article on Covert Recording

My friend sent me this article about smartphones making it much easier to surreptitiously record conversations in the workplace. It was very interesting. Let's face it, I'm sure we've all had times where we'd have loved to record a conversation and play it back. It's much easier to prove that you've been lied to for example.

I told my friend that I enjoyed the article. She then asked if it was legal in our state. I didn't know, but my friend Google helped me find the answer right away.

I found that our state is a "one party state" as defined below, as are a majority of states:

One Party States

• One party to the conversation must have knowledge and give their consent to the recording of the conversation. In the most simple terms, this means that if you were having a conversation with another person and you "secretly" recorded that conversation, since "one party," (you) were aware that the recording was being done, no law was being violated. In the event the party you had the conversation with later changes what they told you, the tape could be used as rebuttal. This does not mean, nor does it imply that it is "legal" to tape conversations that you are not a party to and without question, that would be an invasion of privacy and a state and federal crime.

So yes, absent a company policy to the contrary, you are good to go. This has made me tempted to see how much a small recording device would run as I am too cheap to have a smart phone. It would also behoove people to remember not to say anything they wouldn't want quoted on the front page of the newpaper, the headline page of CNN, or a billboard on the busiest highway in town.