Recording Laws

[Tabteva]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

I can't find anywhere else to ask this, and I don't know which section of the forum would be more appropriate.

If in a public area ( public school/college campus, stores, parks, etc. ) is it legal in CA to make an audio recording of a conversation without consent of all or any parties?

I was reading this [url=http://www.rcfp.org/taping/states/california.html]"Can We Tape?"[/url] and I found it to be confusing.

[FlyingRon]

632 PC makes recording "confidential conversations" without the consent of all parties involved a crime. This is the wording from the statute:

The term "confidential communication" includes any
communication carried on in circumstances as may reasonably indicate
that any party to the communication desires it to be confined to the
parties thereto, but excludes a communication made in a public
gathering or in any legislative, judicial, executive or
administrative proceeding open to the public, or in any other
circumstance in which the parties to the communication may reasonably
expect that the communication may be overheard or recorded.

So, if we're talking about a class or a public forum, it's clear it's not a "confidential" conversation. If it's two people sitting on a park bench alone, they may have reasonable expectation that their conversation was private.