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The US has a prohibition on government snooping. There is no such prohibition on private intelligence gathering; in fact, the publication of such intelligence is specifically protected.

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Really? There's no protection for communication between private individuals in the US?

Strange - in my state, recording a conversation without notifying the other party is a felony.

Sounds like a seriously repressive state. If the law were used, it could be invalidated as it is in violation of a person's right to make records of their observations and, especially, their right to publish those records.

Do you know how many seriously repressive states there are?

Eleven states require the consent of every party to a phone call or conversation - California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington.

I've no doubt that there were plenty of constitutional challenges to the statutes, none of which were successful.

Do you know of a person serving a felony sentence for violating such law?

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