Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You

Re:Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You by TheSpiceIsLife on Saturday September 09, 2017 @03:06PM (#15208632)

As a maverick not a lawyer, it's worth noting that what this means in practice is that evidence of a crime obtained by illegally recording a telephone conversation may not be admissible in court. I say may not be because a judge could decide to allow the evidence if the alleged crime is sufficiently serious.

It's extraordinarily unlikely a criminal or civil case will be brought against you because you revealed to a company that you recorded a support call to them, especially if the content of those calls reveals impropriety on their behalf.

What probably would be a problem is if you recorded a telephone conversation with the intent to, or actually causing, harm.

At least, that's my lay understanding of how things might go.

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Re:Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You by Asooka on Saturday September 09, 2017 @03:14PM (#15208676)

Fortunately, all calls to/from the bank (or at least my bank) begin with the message "We inform you that this call may be recorded."

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Re:Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You by didibus on Saturday September 09, 2017 @03:11PM (#15208662)

How do you record the consent itself? Or is it going to be a case of he said/she said? I'd assume you'd need proof that you had asked for consent prior.

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Re:Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You by ballenf on Saturday September 09, 2017 @03:33PM (#15208780)

The pedantic way (and maybe required under some theoretic draconian regulatory environment):

- no active recording -

Mr. Wants-to-record: "May I record this phone call?"

Ms. Recordee: "Ok"

- start recording -

Mr. Wants-to-record: "I am now recording based on the permission you just gave prior to starting recording. Are we in agreement?"

Ms. Recordee: "Yep"

----

FWIW, I've had conversations pretty close to that when doing mortgage applications over the phone.

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Re:Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You by thanksgiving on Saturday September 09, 2017 @05:26PM (#15209235)

> This call may be recorded for quality and training purposes.

They never ask me to say I'm OK with it.

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Re:Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You by kbenson on Saturday September 09, 2017 @05:44PM (#15209309)

Because you can hang up if you aren't. Additionally, I imagine upon reaching an individual immediately stating you do not consent to being recorded will likely trigger the appropriate outcome.

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Re:Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You by tjohns on Saturday September 09, 2017 @05:41PM (#15209298)

Depends on the seriousness of the call.

If you're entering into an actual contract verbally (e.g. applying for insurance or a mortgage over the phone), they'll typically go out of their way to ask if you're okay with the recording. They don't want even the slightest admissablility issue, and they want you to know you're giving a binding verbal signature.

If you're just talking to a low-level customer support rep, the stakes are a lot lower.

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Re:Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You by joering2 on Saturday September 09, 2017 @05:45PM (#15209318)

If you not okay then you simply hang up, no?

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Re:Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You by TheSpiceIsLife on Saturday September 09, 2017 @03:29PM (#15208761)

> How do you record the consent itself?

I suppose using a call recording device for a fixed line telephone, or an app for a smartphone.

> I'd assume you'd need proof that you had asked for consent prior.

My point is: even if you neglect to ask for consent, no company is going to sic their lawyers on you if you play back to them a call recording that proves they lied and therefore failed to meet their contractual obligations.

Edit: Oh, sorry, I see what you mean now about recording consent. You start by recording the call by default, if the other party requests the call not be recorded you cease recording. It would probably be okay to retain that portion of the recording.

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