Recording CSA telephone conversations.

Published in the NSW Law Society Journal of March 1998, page 51, an article by barrister Tom Molomby covered the issue of telephone conversation recording by a party to the call. In part it reads:

" At one time some believed that the federal legislation extended to the recording of a phone conversation by a party to that conversation. That was no doubt an available interpretation. However, in recent years decisions of the Full Courts of the Supreme Courts of South Australia and Western Australia have held that "interception" in s.6(1) of theTelecommunication (Interception) Act 1979 does *not include* the recordingby a party to the conversation."
Green v The Queen (1995) 124 FLR 423 at 430-433 also (1995-6) 85ACrim R 229, 135 ALR 181, T v Medical Board (SA) (1992) 58 SASR 382 at398-339.

It is because of these rulings and others, that allows the CSA to record conversations between its officers and customers. It also allows you, the customer, to record your conversations with them via telecommunication equipment with recording capabilities*. What you cannot do is 'intercept' a conversation, that is record somebody elses conversation you are not party to via any means.

The advantage of recording your CSA conversations is, if needed, something permanent to refer back to without having to go through the time consuming FOI and the outlandish expense of transcripts. This could be very handy in the event you have been given conflicting or wrong advice, have been coerced, had a privacy breach or a myriad of other errors the CSA officers have been known to make.

These rulings also mean of course, you can record your telephone conversations with anybody, friend or foe. If you make recordings with the intention to maybe use them in court, then that would depend on whom you sit before and arguement by the other party whether or not they would be allowed as admissable evidence. If it's for your myspace page or similar, I suggest you check the legalities and remember, once public they could be put to uses you didn't intend.

As to informing the other party you are recording theirs and your conversation is debatable, I have not found conclusive proof you need to inform them, that's not to say you shouldn't by law. Perhaps as a courtesy and to cover yourself, one should at least inform the other party on the first occassion you will be recording the current and any or all future conversations. In doing so make sure you record their acknowledgement. With the CSA or any other authority, I suggest you put it in writing.


* There are a number of devices you can utilise to record your conversations. Modern mobile phones often have limited ability as too many cordless base stations with memo/answering capabilities. VOIP telephony is probably an obvious choice if your connection is 256k or better. Most softphones, eg, Xlite, have recording capabilites. With voip handsets, check the user manual. The advantage to recording them on your PC is you can burn them onto a CD.