JW: Did you understand that recording ANY telephone conversation in California without the permission and/or knowledge of ALL parties is a criminal act???
CA Penal Code:
"632. (a) Every person who, intentionally and without the consent of all parties to a confidential communication, by means of any electronic amplifying or recording device, eavesdrops upon or records the confidential communication, whether the communication is carried on among the parties in the presence of one another or by means of a telegraph, telephone, or other device, except a radio, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), or imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or in the state prison, or by both that fine and imprisonment. If the person has previously been convicted of a violation of this section or Section 631, 632.5, 632.6, 632.7, or 636, the person shall be punished by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or in the state prison, or by both that fine and imprisonment."
Assuming you now recognize that your actions will be illegal, lets look at why you might do this:
1) A court will NOT accept the recording as evidence or testimony, so you can't use it in any legal proceeding.
2) If you try to use it against someone you will have to acknowledge that you committed a criminal act. That sort of defeats the purspose of doing it.... correct??