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From: hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Telephone Rate Hike - Pacific Bell (recording conversations)
Message-ID: <647@ttidcc.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 7-Aug-85 14:45:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: ttidcc.647
Posted: Wed Aug  7 14:45:37 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 10-Aug-85 20:46:50 EDT
References: <1845@amdahl.UUCP> <69600027@hp-pcd.UUCP> <10892@rochester.UUCP> <308@tove.UUCP>
Reply-To: hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath)
Organization: The Cat Factory
Lines: 35
Summary: 

In article <308@tove.UUCP> dsn@tove.UUCP (Dana S. Nau) writes:
>I read somewhere that it's legal to record from phone lines without a beep
>as long as the recording device is coupled to the line acoustically rather than
>electronically.  In fact, I suspect that that's how telephone answering
>machines manage to record messages legally without beeping periodically.
>Can anyone confirm this?

My understanding, based on a data  communications  course  and  several  TV
documentaries,  is that regulations vary from state to state.  In virtually
all states at least one person involved in the conversation (as opposed  to
just  tapping the line and listening) must know of the recording device for
legality.  Some states require all persons involved in the conversation  to
know.  I'm not sure who requires the 15 second interval beep.

The question about acoustic vs. electrical connection comes from a landmark
court case some years ago known as the Carterphone Decision.  This involved
a telephone answering  machine  that  was  acoustically  connected  to  the
telephone.  Basically,  this  was the first non-AT&T manufactured equipment
that could be legally connected  to  the  telephone  network  and  was  the
entering  wedge for 3rd-party telephone equipment suppliers.  They got away
with it by not being electrically connected to the network, thus posing  no
shock   hazard   to  AT&T  maintenance  workers  (AT&T's  main  excuse  for
prohibiting 3rd party suppliers).  Later AT&T  had  to  publish  electrical
standards for connection for use by third-party suppliers.

I think most modern answering machines are electrically  connected  to  the
telephone network (mine certainly are).

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe)
Citicorp TTI                      Common Sense is what tells you that a ten
3100 Ocean Park Blvd.             pound weight falls ten times as fast as a
Santa Monica, CA  90405           one pound weight.
(213) 450-9111, ext. 2483
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