Taping a call without the knowledge of both parties is a criminal act in many jurisdictions. (listed below)
Since this article has hit the web, I noticed the use of muted beeps by telemarketers has nearly disappeared.
The muting of beeps used to warn a person they are being recorded matches the profile of the hailing signal. This will instigate a fax machine on the line to start negotiation (make a modem negotiation noise).
As with any signal, it's possible to mask the warning tones so that a human will not hear them. It is the masked signal which is recognized (incorrectly) by a fax modem as the hailing signal.
It is your duty as a citizen to explain to the employees of these scum that
their boss has the warning tones turned on but is masking these tones.
Most fax machines will recognize the hailing signal and automatically negotiate to receive the fax. Older fax/data modems are different because they normally remain unconnected. Newer modems include "Extended Distinctive Ring" to recognize these signals and then signal your computer's fax software to respond.
"Extended distinctive ring" on a faxmodem is a feature which provides a computer program with data identifying specific sounds as distinctive ring reports. Distinctive ring is mostly obsolete, but "Extended distinctive ring" permits certain signals such as tekephone keypad combinations to be reported as distinctive rings. Fax hailing beeps are included in this. ('Distinctive ring' was used to allow a single line share two different phone numbers, but only one virtual phone line could be used at any given time.)
More information on faxmodems and "Extended Distinctive Ring" can be
found at Seattle Community Network's modem page, www.scn.org/help/modem.html
This part becomes technical.
These are the states where recording without both parties' consent or knowledge is likely to be a criminal act.
This is not researched legal information. If a state is not listed here, it is still possible the law has changed. Admissibility of wiretap evidence also varies with jurisdiction (although admissibility is generally irrelevant to telescum operations). Generally two-party consent laws apply to calls made to or from someone in that state.
Twelve states require, under most circumstances, the consent of all parties to a conversation. Those jurisdictions are California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington. (Nevada also has a one-party consent statute, but the state Supreme Court has interpreted it as an all-party rule.)
Recording in violation of any state law removes a "one-party consent" exclusion of 18 U.S.C. §2511, meaning that this becomes a separate Federal crime as well.
I believe Canada and the UK are one-party consent jurisdictions.
More info on recording: www.aclu.org/issues/cyber/phonelaw.html
site first posted November 3, 1996; this page 1998
rev September 16, 2007 copyright 1998, Stan Protigal
This website can be found by searching for "The Telemarketing Scum
Page" on a search engine.
