Wiretapping: Part I

Many of you may wince when you hear the above audio tape by Alec Baldwin. As you can imagine, this taped rant had a huge impact on the ongoing child custody battle with Baldwin's former wife. Kim Bassinger.

Influenced perhaps by entertainment gossip powerhouse TMZ’s seemingly endless source of private phone call recordings, emotional conversations (such as Alec's) we perhaps should have held back from and simply one James Bond movie too many, at some point, we have probably all wondered if our conversations via phone were being taped.

There are federal and state (all 50 and DC) statutes governing the use of electronic recording equipment. The unlawful use of recording equipment may not only give authority for civil proceedings against the perpetrator of illegal taping, but may also give rise to criminal charges.

Today’s Bulletin gets right into the meat of how and where the taping of private telephone conversations is allowed.

(It is important however, to first understand the difference between one party consent and two party or all party consent. One party consent requires that one party to the conversation have knowledge and give consent to the recording. Two party or all party consent means that every party to the conversation has knowledge and has given consent to the recording.)

States Allowing One Party Consent Recordings:

Alaska , Arkansas, Colorado, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming


States Requiring All Party Consent Recordings:
California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Washington

As with every rule, there is always an exception; in this case, two. In California, generally an all party consent state, one party alone can record if criminal activity (e.g. extortion) is anticipated or involved. In Arizona, the subscriber to a telephone service can record telephone conversations with no party consent when criminal activity is involved.

In Part II of this series, next week, we will cover business phone conversation, meetings and cell/wireless taps.

BNI Operatives: Street smart: Web savvy.

Be safe, be smart, be aware,

Lina

Bulletin Goes Technorati

Technorati Profile

Free Services, For Real

Below are our real - and free - recommendations:


Free translation site: http://www.freetranslation.com/. No downloading; no waiting. Conversely: written text only. (A premium "human translation" service is offered as well - but for a quick memo or if you're in a rush to get a handle on an uncomplicated foreign-language doc - this site is worth the fingertaps.


Free telephone, address and reverse searches: http://www.argali.com/. You'll need to download the program but that's a good thing. It means it updates every time you sign on to it. And no complicated sign-ins or passwords... You simply d/l the program, a yellow ram (mountain goat?) icon lands on your desktop and you just click that when you are in search mode.

Free homeowners search: http://www.propertysharks.com/ These guys have a fairly extensive and updated archive. Lots of info aside from homeowner identification (date of sale, amount, pictures, land use...)

Free sound-editing: http://audacity.sourceforge.net// Removes background noise from an audio recording quickly and easily - it's that simple. And it's cross-platform - Mac/Windows supported.

Free BNI tip:Old Style: To obtain a forwarding address for a reluctant subject, simply write "Return Address Requested" on the lower left front of your envelope to the last known address for this person. The USPO will not forward your correspondence but rather return you new address information if available.New: To determine the identity of a domain owner, go to http://www.whois.com/. Scroll down to WhoIs LookUp and enter the domain name. If it is not privately registered, the owner's name, address and ownership/availability dates will pop.


Free all in one scanner, copier and fax, from your camera phone: http://www.scanr.com/.
BNI Investigators: Street smart: Web savvy.

Stay safe, Lina

CyberLaw Issued a Copyright?

This week's guest columnist is Anthony M. Verna, Esq. from the Law Firm of Anthony Verna.

Posted By Anthony Verna to Trademark, Copyright, and Entertainment Law Forum.

The College Board is suing a company called Karen Dillard's College Prep that has its own review courses for the SAT and PSAT, claiming that some of the questions in the review course are active questions on the SAT and PSAT. Those claims would mean that KDCP is infringing the College Board's copyright on those questions.

This reminded me of PMBR (now partnered with Kaplan), one of the companies that has a review course for the bar exam. PMBR's specialty is aiding in getting a better score on the Multistate Bar Exam, the multiple choice test that is a part of most states' bar exams. PMBR finally lost a case in 2006 in which copyright infringement was alleged by the National Conference of Bar Examiners, who writes the Multistate Bar Exam. PMBR was fined almost $12 million. Wow.

The standardized-review-test industry is in a difficult position. If a company exists, it has to have a mix of its own questions (which may or may not be good enough) and questions that have been used on exams (they're good enough because they were on exams). If I remember correctly - and I can find no outside source to confirm this - one of the founders of PMBR claimed to have a photographic memory (do any lawyers who took this course remember those claims) and that PMBR had been sued before for copyright infringement (but no success were in those suits). It's a tough balance, having to rely upon a template in an industry that comes from another.

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An attorney is trying to register a trademark. That's not unusual. His mark? "Cyberlaw." Seriously.

I find this to be rather egregious. After all, I took a class in law school called Cyberlaw that was a mix of law and technology. It's easy to find a Wikipedia page on the topic. Even though the word was registered as a trademark in 1995, it expired in 2000 and today it must be considered a generic term that's not right for a trademark registration in legal services.


****

I look forward to reading more about the case a man filed in Maryland, claiming that the Baltimore Ravens used the logo he created. The Ravens have claimed that they never saw the logo and then changed their logo when they were made aware of the possibly infringing logo.

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Freebie Marketing Tip For Your Firm

Luckily, our marketing strategy doesn’t need to be used in the above video but sometimes it’s the simple things that elude us in coming up with an effective yet cost-efficient marketing plan for our business. If you practice personal injury law, we recommend the following visibility heightener to increase word-of-mouth regarding your firm.

Instead of standard business cards, distribute postcards to potential clients (with the suggestion to give them out liberally to friends and family as well) and arrange to have them prominently displayed in participating doctors’ offices, physical therapy and rehab centers.

Not just your typical postcard. This post card should have the firm’s information (of course) but also a To do List in case of an accident. We’ve prepared copy for you:


If you are involved in an accident:

Call 911.
Take pictures immediately.
Do not admit liability.

Fill out the below at the scene of your accident:

Date of Accident: __________________________________
Location of Accident:________________________________
Other Driver’s Name: _______________________________
His/Her Phone Number: _____________________________
His/HerAddress: __________________________________
His/Her License Plate #: __________________ State:______
Insurance Company: ________________________________
Policy Number: ____________________________________
Police Expiration Date: _______________________________
Witnesses: _Name_________________Phone Number____
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
Precinct: _____________ Accident Report No.____________


BNI Operatives: Street Smart; Web Savvy.

Be safe,

Lina Maini

Hi. Rob My House In Three Easy Steps

1. Plan a vacation or event that requires you to be away from your practice and/or home

2. Be courteous to your clients, friends and family (and ANYONE ELSE who might send you an email and/or ping you via IM) by enabling your "Out of Office" and/or "Away Message".

3. Create a specifically worded auto-reply: "Hi - I am out of town for several days/weeks. If your message is urgent please contact my assistant, ________ @........"

Every day, professionals, in a courteous effort, inadvertently advertise their mobility (read: away-ness), giving advance notice to friends, family, clients and criminals that they will not be protecting their fortresses. Usually by giving an exact address in the signature line of their email.

We suggest a less overly informative away message:

"Due to work responsibilities, my email is being filtered until March 23rd Please forward any email to Jane Smiley@myfirm.com" or "Due to work responsibilities, my email is being forwarded until March 23. Your email is being forwarded to my assistant, Jane Smiley and you will be contacted shortly."

It's a hard bit of reality to accept, but the very technologies we employ to make our personal and professional lives more efficient and convenient, also enable lapses in security we might not immediately realize.

BNI Operatives - Street Smart, Web Savvy.

Stay Safe,

Jonathan Caspian