It is a long, complicated, and interesting story of a small town newspaper busting political corruption. Briefly, here is one of the methods used...
Two of the three commissioners—Robert Beck and Mark Jennings, the chairman—were present, along with the board’s executive assistant, Heather Carter. As they neared the end of the listed agenda, Bruce slipped a recording device disguised as a pen into a cup holder at the center of the conference table. “Right in front of ’em,” he bragged. He left, circling the block for the next several hours as he waited for the commissioners to clear out. When they did, he went back inside, pretended to review some old paperwork, and retrieved the recording device.
That night, after Gwen went to bed, Bruce listened to the audio, which went on for three hours and thirty-seven minutes. He heard other county officials enter the room, one by one—“Like, ‘Now is your time to see the king.’ ”
Maybe he got the pen in cup idea from here. Or, maybe this is an intuitively obvious spy trick. Would it have fooled you? more
Twelve (12) states require the consent of everybody involved in a conversation or phone call before the conversation can be recorded. Those states are: California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington. These laws are sometimes referred to as “Two-Party” consent laws but, technically, require that all parties to a conversation must give consent before the conversation can be recorded.
What constitutes “consent” is also an issue of contention when you are considering recording a conversation. In some states, “consent” is given if the parties to the call are clearly notified that the conversation will be recorded, and they engage in the conversation anyway. Their consent is implied. For example, we have all experienced calling a customer service department only to hear a recorded voice warning, “This call may be recorded for quality assurance or training purposes.” It is usually a good practice for practitioners to let the witness know they are recording the call in order to accurately recall and commemorate the testimony being given – such as during the taking of a witness’ statement.
Nearly all states include an extensive list of exceptions to their consent requirements. Common exceptions found in a majority of states’ laws include recordings captured by police, court order, communication service providers, emergency services, etc...
Telephone calls are routinely originated in one state and participated in by residents of another state. In conference call settings, multiple states (and even countries) could be participating in a telephone call which is subject to being recorded by one or more parties to the call. This presents some rather challenging legal scenarios when trying to evaluate whether a call may legally be recorded. A call from Pennsylvania to a person in New York involves the laws of both states. Which state’s laws apply and/or whether the law of each state must be adhered to are questions parties to a call are routinely faced with...
More information on the laws in all 50 states regarding the recording of phone conversations found here.
The court’s unanimous decision reverses the Fourth Appellate District’s opposite interpretation from 2019 that the law applies only to nonparties and does not forbid those on the call from recording each other without consent.
California’s penal code Section 632.7 makes it a crime to record or intercept a phone call “without the consent of all parties.”
This was the basis for a 2016 lawsuit by Jeremiah Smith, who claimed the loan provider LoanMe Inc. recorded him without his consent during an 18-second call in violation of Section 632.7. more
The value placed on the development of the stolen technologies is $119.6 million. Other affected companies include Azko-Nobel, Dow Chemical, PPG, TSI, Sherwin Williams and ToyoChem.
Two actions could have stopped the theft or lessened its impact:
Using the smartphone’s camera to copy documents and workspace is a throwback technique of espionage days of old, when miniature and subminiature cameras would be used to copy documents from within restricted spaces. more
See Murray Associates - Recording in the Workplace Recommendations
UK - A judge is overseeing a private divorce court hearing featuring a member of one of Britain's most famous business families and his estranged wife.
Sir Frederick Barclay, 86, and Lady Hiroko Barclay, 78, are both expected to give evidence at the virtual trial in the Family Division of the High Court...
The nephews - all sons of his twin brother David - allegedly made over 94 hours of secret recordings as part of what his lawyers have described as 'commercial espionage on a vast scale'. more | Some of the bugging video.
via The New York Times...
 I find his conversations less
humorous than distressing, since he is often, at the best of times, in a
state of heightened psychological dysregulation and anxiety, and the
pandemic has just made things worse. Because of my sister’s behavior, my
niece has grown up thinking there’s nothing wrong or unethical with
recording conversations without the other person’s knowledge or consent
and has herself started to do this.
|
|
When
I found out what my sister was doing, I was uneasy and told her that it
was illegal to record someone without their consent. Her rapid retort
was, “It’s not in New York,” where she lives, as if that made it OK. more |
Massachusetts' top appellate court said it will review a case over whether a recorded telephone interview between a Barstool Sports podcast host and a local city mayor runs afoul of a law prohibiting secret recordings if one party fraudulently obtains consent for taping...
Having been denied an interview with Curtatone about the mayor's comments on the issue, Minihane tried again, this time claiming to be Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen, according to the suit. Minihane, posing as Cullen, was granted the interview, in which he told the mayor he was recording...
Barstool and Minihane's attorney Aaron Moss of Greenberg Glusker LLP said in a statement Thursday that he is confident the SJC will reject Curtatone's arguments and uphold the lower court's ruling.
"The Massachusetts Wiretap Act is crystal clear that it only prohibits secret recordings. If a recording isn't secret, the question of consent is irrelevant," Moss said. more
Interesting question. How would you decided?
They also revealed their intentions to go far beyond what they were saying on applications for federal permits to work near the headwaters of Bristol Bay, Alaska -- one of the last great wild salmon habitats left on Earth.
"I mean we can talk to the chief of staff of the White House any time we want, but you want to be careful with all this because it's all recorded," said Ron Thiessen, CEO of Northern Dynasty Minerals, of official communications to the White House, as he himself was recorded unknowingly. "You don't want to be seen to be trying to exercise undue influence." more
What is Extortionography? You need to know.
Testing Our Defenses
