Question
Does Penal Code section 632 (a) include a speakerphone conversation in the definition of “electronic amplifying”? I use speakerphone while working on the computer, however none of my conversations are considered confidential.
Answer
I believe you want to know whether listening to another’s conversation amplified through a speakerphone could be the basis for a violation of Penal Code Section 632(a). The answer would depend on the particular facts of the situation, but as you note below, Section 632(a) applies to eavesdropping on or recording a “confidential communication.” “Confidential communication” is defined in Section 632(c) to exclude one “carried on . . . in any . . . circumstance in which the parties to the communication may reasonably expect that the communication may be overheard or recorded.” It might be difficult to establish that one could reasonably expect a conversation broadcast through a speakerphone to not be overheard.
Although I am not aware of any authority interpreting whether a speakerphone qualifies as an “electronic amplifying . . . device” under Section 632(a), it is not clear that someone having a conversation over a speakerphone could be using that device to eavesdrop on or record that conversation, as required by the statute. The paradigmatic example of using an electronic amplifying device in violation of the statute would be a third party covertly using a remote sound receiver (surveillance sound gun).
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