Reasonable Expectation of Privacy

On a recent phone chat with family in California, an unknown voice told us this call was being recorded. What? Slightly spooked, we hung up and took a few minutes online to find out more. To record a call, we learned, a few states require consent from all parties. Most states, and federal law, require consent from only one party to the call. In some, being told you’re being recorded implies consent. Some require consent only in a situation with a reasonable expectation of privacy, like a personal call from home.

A Reasonable Expectation of Privacy: What a great title for a novel! The plot centers on an elected leader who wants to become a dictator while appearing to follow the law. He empowers an unelected, unconfirmed official to silence the opposition. The scheme has two prongs. One is to stir panic by firing thousands of workers in the name of eliminating waste and fraud. Positions abolished include those of watchdogs to guard against illegal or unethical action.

The other prong is to monitor personal data and communication to identify “enemies” who criticize the leader or his agenda. As monitoring grows more and more intrusive, the public is too frightened of retribution to object. By the end of the novel, when the two schemers part company, “a reasonable expectation of privacy” has lost all meaning. No reasonable person still expects any privacy whatever.

Of course, this plotline is only fiction. At least, I hope so. These days you never know.

Image: Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash.