Comment by markstansbury
15 years ago
No that's not true. A private person can privately record any conversation he or she wants. (Remember Monica?)
Warrant requirements only apply to government action, meaning the government itself or someone acting on the government's behalf. If you talk to someone on the phone and that person records you on his own, without government inducement, then the court will consider the recording hearsay but admissible at trial under a few exceptions to the hearsay rule.
The world is larger than the USA, and twelve US states have laws forbidding the recording of private conversations without all parties consent.
Fair enough.
Do you know whether those prohibited recordings would be admissible as evidence in court, despite being non-consensual? Or is the weight of their prohibition that they are inadmissible?