Telephone recording laws

Telephone recording laws are laws that govern the civilian recording of telephone conversations by the participants. Recording by government or law enforcement (wiretapping) are usually covered by distinct laws.

Telephone tapping is strictly regulated in many countries, "especially in all developed democracies, to safeguard the privacy of telephone users." Telephone tapping often must be authorized by a court, and is normally only approved when evidence shows it is not possible to detect criminal or subversive activity in less intrusive ways; often the law and regulations require that the crime investigated must be at least of a certain severity. In many jurisdictions however, permission for telephone tapping is easily obtained on a routine basis without further investigation by the court or other entity granting such permission. Illegal or unauthorized telephone tapping is often a criminal offense. However, in certain jurisdictions such as Germany, criminal courts may accept illegally recorded phone calls without the other party's consent as evide

The federal Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 and State and Territory listening devices laws may both apply to monitoring or recording of telephone conversations. The general rule is that the call may not be recorded. Section 7 of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 prohibits intercepting a telephone call. "Interception" is defined in section 6, of which one element is that it is made "without the knowledge of the person making the communication". There are exceptions to these rules in very limited circumstances, including where a warrant applies.

If a call is to be recorded or monitored, an organization must tell you at the beginning of the conversation so that you have the chance either to end the call, or to ask to be transferred to another line where monitoring or recording does not take place (if this is available).

Reasons organizations may monitor or record conversations could include:

In the state of Queensland it is not illegal to simply record a telephone conversation if you are a party to the conversation.

In Canada, organizations subject to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) must comply with PIPEDA when recording calls.

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