REPORTERS COMMITEE for FREEDOM of the PRESS - "CAN WE TAPE" - in CLEVELAND OHIO TREMONT - "YES WE CAN"

It is not a crime to intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication if the person recording is a party to the conversation, if one party has consented to taping, or if the conversation is not taped for the purpose of committing a criminal or tortious offense. Ohio Rev. Code ann. § 2933.52. Under the statute, consent is not required to tape a non-electronic communication uttered by a person who does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in that communication. See definition of “oral communication,” Ohio Rev. Code ann. § 2933.51(b). The Ohio Supreme Court has held that prisoners do not have a reasonable expectation in their communications, for purposes of the wiretapping law. State v. Robb, 723 N.E.2d 1019 (Ohio 2000).

Cordless telephone conversations purposely picked up by a neighbor’s baby monitor were considered “oral communications,” accompanied by a reasonable expectation of privacy. Ohio v. Bidinost, 644 N.E.2d 318 (Ohio 1994).

Illegal interceptions are felonies and also carry potential civil liability for the greater of actual damages, $200 per day of violation or $10,000, along with punitive damages, attorney fees, and litigation expenses. There is a two-year statute of limitations to bring a civil action. Ohio Rev. Code ann. § 2933.65.

Ohio also has anti-voyeurism law that prohibits surreptitiously invading a person’s privacy for sexual purposes. Ohio Rev. Code ann. §2907.08.

http://www.rcfp.org/taping/states/ohio.html [1]

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