[wallyworth]

Hi there,

I was wondering if anyone knows of any way to record phone calls via a computer's modem port. When the modem dials in you can hear any activity on the phone line, and so I was wondering if there's any way to keep this active and to record it. It would certainly be easier than going down to radio shack to buy stupid little phone attachments!

Thanks!

[ghporter]

Nope. Not practical. I won't say it CAN'T be done, but it would be a lot more trouble than buying the little adapter at Radio Shack.

The modem provides sound so you can hear intercept messages, like "The number you have reached is no longer in service." It also allows you to hear when the tones are dialed, and when it rings and starts to handshake. This sound simply goes to either a micro speaker on the modem card, or to the computer's sound system. It doesn't go to the sound system as a regular input-it goes directly to the output amplifier.

There's a probable reason for this: without a court order, it's illegal in the US (probably just about everywhere else, too) to record a telephone conversation without express consent of the parties at both ends. You must either inform everyone on the line that you're recording and ask them INDIVIDUALLY for their permission, or include a "recording beep" periodically (about every 10-20 seconds) to inform them. Using a modem to quietly record phone conversations is certainly not a "value added" feature if it can get you in trouble.

[wallyworth]

Originally posted by GHPorter:

There's a probable reason for this: without a court order, it's illegal in the US (probably just about everywhere else, too) to record a telephone conversation without express consent of the parties at both ends. You must either inform everyone on the line that you're recording and ask them INDIVIDUALLY for their permission, or include a "recording beep" periodically (about every 10-20 seconds) to inform them. Using a modem to quietly record phone conversations is certainly not a "value added" feature if it can get you in trouble.

Ahhh, yes, laws. I believe I may have heard of such things at some point!


Thanks for the info about the modem port. For some reason I assumed that the OS handled the audio at all times. Guess it's off to Radio Shack for me!

[Amorya]

Originally posted by GHPorter:
There's a probable reason for this: without a court order, it's illegal in the US (probably just about everywhere else, too) to record a telephone conversation without express consent of the parties at both ends. You must either inform everyone on the line that you're recording and ask them INDIVIDUALLY for their permission, or include a "recording beep" periodically (about every 10-20 seconds) to inform them. Using a modem to quietly record phone conversations is certainly not a "value added" feature if it can get you in trouble.

I'm not sure, but I think that here you're allowed to record phone calls as long as one party knows about it...

Amorya

[C.J. Moof]

Originally posted by Amorya:
I'm not sure, but I think that here you're allowed to record phone calls as long as one party knows about it...

Amorya

Well, if I have the recorder, i'm a party that knows about it..... I think ya have to tell the other guy too.

Interesting aside: My motorola v60s cellphone has a voice memo recorder in it. If you envoke that function while on a call, it starts recording, but only what the *other* guy says. Seems odd.

[Amorya]

Originally posted by C.J. Moof:
Well, if I have the recorder, i'm a party that knows about it..... I think ya have to tell the other guy too.

Interesting aside: My motorola v60s cellphone has a voice memo recorder in it. If you envoke that function while on a call, it starts recording, but only what the *other* guy says. Seems odd.

That was what I meant. I thought that I could record a phone call when I'm one of the guys speaking. The one party thing is to stop someone tapping someone else's phone, or bosses recording office staff's calls, or whatever.

As I said though, I may be wrong. I just remember hearing it somewhere.

BTW, your answerphone might have a function to record calls. Our old one (which was basically a telephone-enabled cassette recorder) did.


Amorya

[CharlesS]

Couldn't you just take an analog audio cable and run it from the sound out port to the sound in port?

(Of course, you'd want to make sure you don't have play-through on, or this could cause some real problems... )

[Blue Flame]

in Canada at least (can't speak for US laws) you can record whatever conversation you want as long as you are personally involved. i.e. - I can record a converation between myself and Joe, but not a conversation between Joe and Sally..

[ghporter]

Whatever the local laws, it's incredibly difficult to make a modem card do anything but behave like a modem. It's much easier to buy the little adapter from Radio Shack. You can even use it record audio with your computer's sound system-but only after you get the audio from the phone.

[himself]

While it is illegal (in some parts) to record a phone conversation without notifying the other party, it doesn't prevent telephone manufacturers from building that functionality into phones, in the event that some does need to record a conversation, and do it legitimately.

That being said, I do remember on one occasion, back when I was using 10.2.x, I was setting up my modem using my university access account... I must have entered the info wrong, since the modem misdialed and called a local campus office - someone picked up, and asked "hello...?" loud and clear over my powerbook speakers. I answered back, but apparently the microphone doesn't transmit over the modem since she couldn't hear me, and eventually hung up. I don't know if the modem operates the same way in 10.3 (I no longer use dialup), but I don't see why it shouldn't; normally (if you set your modem to be audible when connecting), the "handshake" noise you hear won't cut off until a connection has been established. If no connection is established (i.e., you dial the wrong number and someone picks up), there is no modem signal, and the sound doesn't cut off. That way, you can hear busy signals, "out of service" notices, etc, I assume. It also follows that if you can hear the sound from your modem connection over your internal speakers, you can find a way to record that sound to your hard drive. This may, or may not apply, depending on the system (powerbook or powermac), and the type of modem you have.

Originally posted by GHPorter:
Nope. Not practical. I won't say it CAN'T be done, but it would be a lot more trouble than buying the little adapter at Radio Shack.

The modem provides sound so you can hear intercept messages, like "The number you have reached is no longer in service." It also allows you to hear when the tones are dialed, and when it rings and starts to handshake. This sound simply goes to either a micro speaker on the modem card, or to the computer's sound system. It doesn't go to the sound system as a regular input-it goes directly to the output amplifier.

There's a probable reason for this: without a court order, it's illegal in the US (probably just about everywhere else, too) to record a telephone conversation without express consent of the parties at both ends. You must either inform everyone on the line that you're recording and ask them INDIVIDUALLY for their permission, or include a "recording beep" periodically (about every 10-20 seconds) to inform them. Using a modem to quietly record phone conversations is certainly not a "value added" feature if it can get you in trouble.