Recording of a phonecall

[pirwany]

How can I record a phonecall? I receive nuisance phonecalls from time to time from abroad which BT cannot trace.

[theshedman]

Hi, even if you do record them BT will still not be able to trace or do anything about them. I have had this problem for while. I am registered with the telephone preference service which cuts down on this type of call, but does not stop the ones from abroad. By the way if you do record them I was told that you have to inform them before recording or you could be in trouble. I just put the phone down on them these days.

[hc4361]

You do not have to inform anyone that your home phone is recording the conversations, it is perfectly legal to do so.
It is pointless in this instance though as it will not help you trace the calls.
You can arrange to block all non-identified callers though.

[marval]

Buy a whistle, next time they call blow it very loudly down the phone.

[novalis]

I have caller display so more often than not ignore it. Otherwise I say "Greater Manchester Police. How may we help you?" Unsurprisingly the call is rather swiftly terminated. Before now I've answered in German. That causes confusion.

[chazza]

In answer to your question, you can get dictaphones that plug into the phone and records the conversation. Get them from a specialist electrical shop

[heathfield]

While HC is correct in saying that you do not need permission to record a call, what is definitely illegal is to pass any of the recorded conversation to a third party, e.g. BT, family members, best mate, etc.

[filthiestfis]

heathfield: isnt that what the mother of that dead soldier (Mrs Janes!) did though, when she recorded the conversation with Gordon Brown and passed it on to News of the World?

[heathfield]

According to commentators, it was the Sun newspaper that carried out the recording of Gordon Brown's conversation with Mrs Janes. To carry out a prosecution would be politically damaging to Gordon Brown - something he can't afford.