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59 U.S.F. L. Rev. 1 (2024-2025)

handle is hein.journals/usflr59 and id is 1 raw text is: The Problematic Nature of Punishment for Secret Taping By CAROL M. BAST* Introduction EAVESDROPPING has been practiced and condemned for centuries. The disreputable part of eavesdropping is that, although the participants in the conversation are discussing something of a private nature, the eavesdropper takes satisfaction in secretly obtaining information with- out alerting the people involved in the conversation. Communication privacy is vital to one's well-being, and one gener- ally assumes that a disclosure made to a confidante will not be shared with others and will certainly not be taped. However, a good reason for taping may be to gather evidence of domestic violence or other crimes. In addition, the other discussant may not be as trustworthy as one assumed. The person exposing extremely personal information takes the risk that the other person will repeat or tape the conversation. The difference between retelling a private conversation and taping it is that taping captures the exact wording, context, and tone of the conversation. Eavesdrop taping, secret taping by a non-party to a private con- versation, is still widely considered a privacy violation, although rapidly advancing technology makes it easy and tempting to do so.1 * Carol M. Bast is professor in the Department of Legal Studies at the University of Central Florida, where she has taught for more than thirty years. She teaches Legal Research and Legal Writing and authored an undergraduate textbook on those topics. She teaches the survey course, Law and the Legal System, and co-authored an undergraduate textbook used in the course. Her areas of research and writing include eavesdropping and wiretap- ping, plagiarism, legal ethics, artificial intelligence, legal research, legal writing, and inter- national trade agreements. She served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Legal Studies in Business, November 2008 to November 2010; she served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Legal Studies Education, August 2006 to August 2008. Prior to becoming a professor, Bast clerked for a federal district judge and practiced corporate, securities, and real estate law. She received her LL.M. in International Economic Law and Policy from the University of Barcelona in 2016, her J.D. magna cum laude from New York Law School in 1982, and her B.A. from Kalamazoo College in 1974. 1. Julia Keller, Eavesdropping: The Forgotten Public Nuisance in the Age of Alexa, 77 VAND. L. REV. 169, 218-19 (2024). 1

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