

iPhone Call Recording: It Makes Too Much Sense Not to Do - mariorz
http://www.louisgray.com/live/2009/08/iphone-call-recording-it-makes-too-much.html

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johnyzee
I always record calls that include word-of-mouth contracts, from negotiating
auto repairs to canceling paid subscriptions. I have never had to use one of
these recordings, not even in case of disputes, but I have always felt
comfortable that if push comes to shove I have their word on tape.

(In Denmark it is legal to record a phone conversation without the consent or
knowledge of the other party, you'd probably want to check your local laws
regarding this.)

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wmeredith
The legality of this varies from state to state in the US. Where I live,
Kansas City, MO only one of the parties on the line has to be aware of the
recording, so this would be fine.

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dejb
Imagine if someone came if with a generic idea for a computer program and they
described it as 'Windows Blah Blah'. Many would see this as reflecting poorly
on the author's knowledge of computing. What about Linux or OSX? Why are you
so close minded as to only think about Windows? they might say. In the same
way I think that the use of the word 'iPhone' for generic smartphone concepts
should be deprecated in favor of more generic terms.

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louismg
In this case, I referenced the iPhone because of their recent introduction of
voice memos. It seems like the tech is there, and they can marry it to the
standard interface. I also understand Android has this available.

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dejb
I'm guessing that you used it because many others before have also used it.
The problem is it tends to propagate an untrue and unfortunate meme that the
iPhone is the only mobile computing platform. Now that many are starting to
doubt the 'perfect golden future' of the iPhone I think it is time to squash
this meme.

The other thing is that many phones have had the capability of doing much of
this for years. I had a phone 5 years ago that could record phone calls. I
think it was an Ericsson.

The ironic thing is that there is a high likelihood Apple wouldn't allow you
to implement these ideas where other platforms would.

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aw3c2
I consider things like these scary privacy problems.

Imagine it becoming a standard and then your friends going "Hey, you gotta
hear what X said about Y on the phone. Here, I recorded it."

It would probably be considered weird if you had something against recording,
after all you are talking with a friend and you trust him/her, right?

If you want to record a phone call, you can always do so (maybe not on a
locked-down thing like the iPhone, well, your choice). But making it a
prominent feature screams for abuse.

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noblethrasher
An armed society is a polite society.

We already use plenty of other self documenting communication mediums (email,
instant messaging, SMS).

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bkudria
A polite society is a conforming society. Opinions offend.

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alaskamiller
Google Voice has phone recording. I use it quite often for business calls. It
chimes before the recording begins with a message informing both parties
what's going on.

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drewcrawford
Unfortunately it doesn't (yet) record outgoing calls.

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jodrellblank
Mobile phone audio quality is barely a photon's cough above usable. Add in
mobile phone signal transience and the suggested periodic beeps to indicate
that it's being recorded ... would that be good enough to be a podcast?

If that is good enough, then don't wait for Apple to code it, use the
mentioned conference call/third party feature to dial an Asterisk server that
announced "Recorder present" and then records the conversation.

