Legal Question in Business Law in Illinois

Re: commference call

Although I have seen no cases interpreting the Illinois Eavesdropping Act with respect to the use of conference call features on a telephone, I think that there is a very good argument that the eavesdropper on your phone call and the participants who allowed the eavesdropping to take place have committed a Class 4 felony.

Illinois has a very broad Eavesdropping Act (720 ILCS 5/14-1 et seq.). It provides that a person commits a felony if he "[k]nowingly and intentionally uses an eavesdropping device for the purpose of hearing ... all or any part of any conversation ... unless he does so ... with the consent of all of the parties to such conversation...." (720 ILCS 5/14‑2)

Any "eavesdropping device" is "any device capable of being used to hear or record oral conversation ... whether such conversation ... is conducted in person, by telephone, or by any other means...." (720 ILCS 5/14‑1)

I see no reason why the use of a conference call feature would be exempted from the coverage of the act.

In fact, in 2003 the former head of the GOP in Virginia plead guilty to a felony charge of eavesdropping for surreptitiously dialing into a Democratic conference call using a access code given to him by a former Democratic staffer. The prosecutors recommended 3 years probation and a $10,000 fine. Eventually, the Democrats won a $750,000 from the Republican Party and four other defendants.

So, contrary to what Mr. Steele says, I believe that in Illinois there is an expectation of privacy in a conversation between two parties. The other party to a conversation can tell someone about the conversation after the fact, but he cannot allow someone to overhear it on a conference call.

Re: commference call

Yes. From the sounds of it, you were on one. Now, I think you are wondering what repercussions may result from it occurring to you. Not much. When you talk over a public telephone, you do not enjoy an expectation that the other person will not tell other people what you said.