public attorney

i'm steve kramer. i'm a florida attorney andtoday we're going to talk about if in florida you can record somebody without their knowledge.now in florida we have what's called the 'two party consent law' and that means that bothparties have to consent to a recording. now there are certain situations where this doesn'tapply. that's where there's not an expectation of privacy. so let's say that you walk intoa bank. well if you walk into a bank and you go up to that teller, you know there's a prettygood chance you're being recorded. you might even see the camera up in the ceiling. ormaybe you're at a casino playing blackjack. we all know about the eye in the sky up there,you know you're being recorded. that's the type of scenario where you don't have an expectationof privacy. where you might have an expectation

of privacy is, say in your bathroom. you know,you don't expect that your neighbor has drilled a hole in the wall and that you're being recorded.when you're shopping, you have an expectation of privacy that you're not going to be recordedup your skirt. you have an expectation of privacy when you're on the phone with yourgirlfriend, boyfriend, husband or wife. and you know, if you call your ex-girlfriend andyou record that conversation well you may have just broken the law. in fact, you probablyhave if they don't know they're being recorded. and you didn't just break the law, you mayhave committed a felony. and it's a third degree felony where you can face five yearsin prison. the other problem with recording somebody without their knowledge is that youcan face civil penalties. you can actually

be sued for damages. you can face punitivedamages. you could have to pay attorney's fees and costs. there's all kinds of consequencesto this. i'm telling you this because i get asked these questions all the time. can irecord somebody in florida? you know, when can i record somebody in florida? i deal withthis stuff all the time. if you have any questions, call me. i'd be glad to talk about this orany other legal issue you have. i'm steve kramer, thanks for watching.