Insider Chatter by Donna Bogatin

Silicon Valley beware: Are you SURE you want a GrandCentral from Google invite!

The latest Googley service by acquisition includes voicemail screening, a so-called “ListenIn” feature. There wiil, in fact, be LOTS of LISTENING IN going on, thanks to Google. Who needs wiretaps?

GrandCentral by Google on “RECORDING CONVERSATIONS”:

GrandCentral provides a function that allows Subscriber to record individual telephone conversations. The laws regarding the notice and notification requirements of such recorded conversations vary by state to state. Subscriber is responsible for applying the local laws in the relevant jurisdiction when using this feature.

RIGHT! And YouTubers are “responsible” for applying copyright law while uploading pirated videos to YouTube!

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse spells out the legal and privacy implications inherent in a service facilitating turnkey recording of private telephone communications:

IS IT LEGAL TO RECORD TELEPHONE CALLS?

Both the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) have acknowledged the importance of privacy in telephone conversations by placing additional restrictions on tape recording such conversations.

California law does not allow tape recording of telephone calls unless all parties to the conversation consent (California Penal Code 632), or they are notified of the recording by a distinct “beep tone” warning (CPUC General Order 107-B(II)(A)(5)).

Federal law allows recording of phone calls and other electronic communications with the consent of at least one party to the call. A majority of the states and territories have adopted laws based on the federal standard. But 12 states, including California, require the consent of all parties to the call. These are are California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington.

It is not always clear which law, state or federal, applies to specific situations. This depends on where the call originates, why the recording is being made and who places the call. To stay within the law, you may wish to refrain from taping calls you make, but be aware that in certain situations others may be recording your conversations with them.

The California Supreme Court ruled in July 2006 that companies calling Californians from outside the state must comply with the state’s all-party consent law. Prior to this unanimous decision, it was not clear if the federal one-party standard would apply to interstate calls. ( Kearney v. Smith Barney, S124739)

Google may in fact be at legal risk itself by being a party to unlawful recordings of private telephone conversations. Google is at multi-billion dollar DMCA risk at YouTube. GrandCentral may become another “user generated content” prospective liability for Google.

Google, of course, is not worried. Mountain View happily carries on its (not so) Privacy Policy of ensuring it is able to retain every piece of user data gleaned from GrandCentral usage in perpetuity in the big, bad Google cloud.

What happens within the Google systems, stays within the Google server farms, forever. Google on GrandCentral user “choices”:

You may organize or delete your voicemail messages and recorded conversations through your GrandCentral inbox.

You may terminate your account by contacting support@grandcentral.com. Such deletions or terminations will take immediate effect in your account view.  Residual copies of deleted messages and accounts may take up to 60 days to be deleted from our active servers and may remain in our offline backup systems.

In other words, Google license to record and archive the personal communications of others for as long as it wants.

SEE: Free FeedBurner? The HIGH Price You Pay  and Google Global Land Grab: Do Server Farms Matter? and Google is WRONG On Consumer Privacy

CONTACT DONNA BOGATIN