For more than ten years I have been involved in maintaining various documents on legal topics and have consulted many lawyers on more than one occasion. In addition, my other specialization is information security. Today we will talk about recording conversations - you will agree that the topic is quite interesting and can be useful to many novice lawyers.
If you plan to record telephone calls or personal conversations (including by recording video in which audio is recorded), you should be aware that Russia has federal and wiretapping laws that limit your ability to record.
These laws not only expose you to the risk of criminal prosecution, but they can also potentially give the injured party a basis for filing a civil claim against you for damages.
Why do they make secret recordings?
In many legal disputes, the parties need to go to a judge to determine which version of events the parties have is correct. In civil (i.e., non-criminal) proceedings, the judge decides which version of events either party prefers based on the “balance of probability”: is Party A's or Party B's version of events more likely?
Consequently, the outcome of a dispute will often be determined by the available evidence. It is for this reason that a party to an actual or potential dispute may wish to obtain a record of what has been said or done by others. But in practice this is only possible if the subject does not know that he is being recorded.
How does the law look at this?
From a legal perspective, the most important issue in the context of recording a conversation is whether you must obtain the consent of one or all parties to record it. Russian wiretapping law allows recording if both parties (including you) consent to the phone call or conversation.
At the same time, if you live in different countries, then some confusion arises and it is not always easy to determine which law applies, especially to a telephone call. For example, if you and the person you are recording are in different countries, it is difficult to tell in advance which law may apply. So if you're recording a phone call with participants from more than one country, it's best to play it safe, play it safe, and still get consent from all parties.
However, if you and the person you are recording are in the same country (Russia), you may rely on the laws of that country to apply to both of you. In any case, it never hurts to be careful and get the consent of everyone involved in the phone call or conversation you intend to record.
Basic laws governing issues that arise when recording on a voice recorder
Is it legal to record conversations on a voice recorder? Is it possible to record your wives, friends, colleagues, bosses? All these questions can be answered by delving into our legislative acts.
- Constitution
It guarantees the right of everyone to preserve, protect their honor and dignity, and protect their privacy. We have the right to the confidentiality of our mail messages, telephone conversations, and correspondence. Collecting, storing and distributing such materials is illegal.
- Civil Code of the Russian Federation
He also stands guard over people's personal lives. Limits the collection and transmission of information about personal and family life. However, it will not be considered a violation if information about the private life of citizens is obtained in the public and state interests. Or if the citizen previously disclosed information about himself of his own free will. Responsibility is also provided for the use of illegally obtained information to create works of art and literature.
Important: children and spouses have the right to demand protection of a citizen’s private life, even after his death.
- Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
It spells out penalties for the illegal collection and transmission of facts about the private life of citizens, despite the fact that their consent to this is absent. And also for the illegal manufacture and circulation of technical devices, using which you can secretly obtain the ability to record information.
- Law “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection”
It imposes a ban on requiring individuals to provide materials about their personal and family secrets and, in general, about private life.
- Law “On Communications”
It guarantees the citizens of our country the secrecy of telephone conversations, mail messages and notifications that are provided by electrical networks and post offices.
- Law “On Operational Investigative Activities”
According to this law, before an audio recording begins, which will be made by an unauthorized person, the persons involved must be informed.
- Law “On Personal Data”
It prohibits all citizens, excluding employees on duty, from collecting data on private individuals without their written approval.
Can I record a phone call or conversation if I do not have the consent of the other party?
That being said, it is almost always illegal to record a phone call or private conversation in which you do not have consent from at least one party.
In addition, Russian law does not allow a recording device to be secretly placed on a person or phone, in a home, office or restaurant in order to secretly record a conversation between two people who have not given consent.
Note: Most other countries also prohibit the disclosure of the contents of an illegally intercepted telephone call.
What if you are recording the actions of police or other government officials?
Special rules apply when recording police officers or other government officials. You may have a constitutional right to openly record the activities of police and other officials in public, as long as you do not interfere with those activities or violate generally applicable laws.
However, conversations that have been retained by law enforcement agencies who seek an extrajudicial "confession" of an accused through deception and a position of superiority take a different approach. In the latter case, the doctrine of the European Court of Human Rights encourages analysis of the nature and extent of coercion used to obtain evidence for the investigation and punishment of the crime in question. It is in this case that a constitutional right against the accused may be violated, which will lead to the invalidity of evidence.
Applications for recording phone conversations: top 3
By going to the Android application store and asking “call recording” in the search field, you will receive a significant list of programs from different developers that can record your conversations. They all perform the same basic function, but their overall capabilities can vary greatly. Some have collected the best qualities and record equally well all calls in which both speakers are heard. Others can only record you, while others only record incoming calls.
In general, all applications can be divided into paid and free. As a rule, paid ones have demo versions that you can test for several days and understand whether this application is suitable specifically for your smartphone. If not, try further, since the choice is quite wide.
We have tested some programs and offer our top 3 most interesting offers:
- Call recording - Cube ACR is a completely free application
, without trial versions, which contains many useful functions. You will record incoming and outgoing calls equally well. You can choose whether to record each call or not, or turn it on automatically. The diary of entries is very simple and convenient, all known numbers are signed in it, and calls are reflected by date and time. The application can be completely hidden from prying eyes, or you can set a PIN code to prevent unauthorized use. This is a very user-friendly and intuitive application, sufficient for personal use. - Record My Call is the most functional application that allows you to automatically record calls. You independently choose the recording mode: mono or stereo sound, bitrate. You can specify the numbers for which you want to record, for example, you only care about records from your boss, or you want to record calls only from unfamiliar numbers; all this is set manually. You can record calls in MP3, WAL, AMR, MP4 and even 3GP format
. A special feature is that you can create a folder on your phone where entries marked with the important sign will be sent. - Truecaller is a unique paid application that allows you to identify hidden numbers and record any calls
. The beauty of the application is the availability of a demo version for 14 days, during which you can try all its functions completely free of charge, and only after that decide whether to purchase it. An additional feature of the program is the ability to block spam calls, which means that you will not hear annoying calls from companies that make frequent calls with unnecessary offers.
To summarize: you can record your calls as much as you want, as long as you don't violate anyone's rights. But if your actions attempt to violate private space, the consequences can be disastrous. But if you still need evidence for court, then it is better to contact the competent authorities, who themselves will carry out the necessary operational and investigative actions.
How legal is it to record a secret conversation?
Recording secret conversations is not a criminal offense and is not prohibited as long as the recording is for personal use. You will not have to obtain consent or inform any other person for your use.
Important: However, the situation changes if the question is about compensation for damage or if the recordings were transferred to the court without the consent of all participants. Even worse, if the recording is sold to third parties or published without the consent of everyone involved in that recording, then this could be considered a criminal offense.
By the way, journalists often record secret conversations, which they then publish without any legal problems. But this is because they either obtain consent or argue that the recordings are in the public interest.
Interestingly, the existence of a contract allows a party to record negotiations with the other party without warning.
What are the risks of disclosing information and violating laws?
Russian legislation provides for a number of penalties for violating the rights of citizens to personal privacy and protection of personal information.
Thus, the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, art. 13 11 and paragraph 14 establish administrative liability for such violations in the form of a fine ranging from 300 to 500 rubles for citizens, and from 5 to 10 thousand rubles for legal entities.
In addition, disclosure of personal information and other personal information that results in serious consequences may lead to criminal penalties. According to Art. 138 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which provides for imprisonment for up to 1 year.
Is it possible to present such evidence in court?
A private conversation can be presented as evidence, but under certain conditions:
- It can be used as evidence if the court allows it.
- Application for permission must be made in a special form.
- The recording must be made available to the other parties prior to any hearing to consider its admissibility.
By the way, secret voice recorder (or video) conversations of children are very rarely used in court as evidence.
How legal is this for business?
Here the law becomes more strict, since in Russia there are many amendments prohibiting companies from recording conversations.
At the same time, any types of conversations stored on the voice recorder/video and in the possession of the company must relate to this company and be used only by this company. All people should also be made aware that their conversations are being recorded, and that all businesses holding personal information should be registered with the Data Protection Commissioner.
The legality of recording on a voice recorder in life situations
Recording conversations with officials on a voice recorder will not violate the law, since federal laws ensure the openness of information related to the activities of state bodies and local governments, except in cases established by these laws.
Relationships that develop in the workplace cannot be a private secret. Therefore, the use of recording devices during working hours is completely legal. Unless the dialogue touches on commercial or state secrets. Secret recording in the workplace, during meetings, or team meetings may violate internal regulations adopted and in force by the employer. If there are no such acts, then the employer’s measures aimed at calling the employee to legal responsibility, as well as forcing him to erase the record, will be ambiguous.
If you have decided to record a conversation using a voice recorder, think about the manner in which your conversation will proceed, and whether after these actions you will become a violator of the law.
conclusions
- A private recorded conversation can be introduced as evidence in court, but with certain conditions and can be used as evidence if the court allows it. In this case, the application for permission must be made in a special form.
- The conversation must be made available to the other parties prior to any hearing to consider its admissibility.
- If it is a company, then any records held by the company must relate to that company and be used only by that company.
- Even if a hidden record containing personal information is not shared or published, the “intrusion” of a single record may result in a breach of confidentiality.
- Caution is advised as the recording may be illegal depending on the nature of the information and the circumstances under which it was obtained.
- Having a contract allows a party to record communications with the other party without warning.
Method for Android
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If you wish, you can use modern methods. In phones based on Android and iOS, the methods are different, so it’s worth examining each separately. In Android, the algorithm of actions consists of the following stages:
- If there is a built-in function, it will be enough to dial the number of the desired subscriber.
- During communication, you need to click on a special button, which is located on the main screen of the phone. The conversation will be automatically saved.
- After finishing the conversation, go to the call_rec folder, find the information you need and click on it to listen again.
- If your phone does not have this option, it is worth installing an additional application that allows you to save the call.
In some versions of Android, developers have removed the built-in voice recorder function, so you will need to install an additional program.
