Harman International Industries Inc. is an American subsidiary of the Samsung Corp. and specializes in audio and visual systems for automobiles, home, and professional broadcasting. It is based out of Stamford, Conn. Recently, the Harmon Audio phone number that a consumer would call for customer service has come under scrutiny.

Under the state of California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), a company or an individual must get the permission of all parties to a phone call before it can be recorded. This applies to inbound or outbound phone calls. Some consumers suspect the Harmon Audio phone number is purportedly failing to get this vital permission in what is known as a “two-party consent” state.

What is a Two-Party State?

In addition to the state of California, there are a handful of other states in the U.S. that are considered “two-party consent.” This has nothing to do with politics, but rather whether the two people that are involved in a telephone conversation are mutually apprised of the intent of one of them to have the call recorded.

This means that even if you are the California customer that initiated the call to the Harmon Audio phone number to get help, you have the right to know if and when the interaction with the customer service representative will be recorded. You also have the right to decline permission after calling the Harmon Audio phone number — though declining permission may require you to hang up.

Other states that are two-party include Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington. Because of these “two-party” states, we have become accustomed to hearing the traditional pre-recorded caveat when calling customer service lines, like the Harmon Audio phone number: “This call may be recorded for quality-control and or training purposes”

Whether or not this is the real reason that companies want to record these conversations concerning customer concerns is somewhat irrelevant. The caveat works to protect a business legally based on a concept known as “implied consent.”

Implied consent means that although I, as a caller, have not specifically given my permission to have my phone call recorded, the fact that I have stayed on the line waiting for a customer service representative after hearing the warning means that by default, I have agreed to its recording.

Often, customer service representatives at business service lines like the Harmon Audio phone number are trained to back up prerecorded messages and also ask permission to have the telephone interaction recorded, but this is not always the case.

Exceptions and Consequences

There are two exceptions to two-party laws in the state of California. The first one concerns the belief that a serious crime has been committed. A conversation can be recorded without the permission of the other person on the line if it the recorder thinks he is capturing evidence of a serious crime.

Secondly, recording laws don’t apply where there isn’t a “reasonable expectation of privacy,” but this rarely is the case with telephone use. It is more of an issue in public arenas where there may be a heated exchange with two people on the street or at an event.

The businesses that fail to seek permission to record telephone conversations put themselves at legal risk. For each violation, the business can be levied a fine of $5,000 or three times that of the damages sustained depending upon evidence provided.