In an effort to be as fully transparent as possible, I must inform our readers as to a decision I have taken behind the scenes here. There was a comment posted in one of the Open Threads by Miky59, who is not a frequent commenter as best as I can tell and who is not known to me personally, that featured an audio recording of New Castle County Risk Manager Cheryl McDonough that, needless to say, was not complimentary. The comment was first moderated because we were not sure of the legality of having secret recordings posted when it was obvious that one of the people on the recording was not aware of the recording. Delaware law, as best as I can tell given my brief research on this, is unclear on the legality of recordings where one party is not aware of the recording.
State privacy laws state that all parties must consent to the recording of oral or electronic conversations. Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, § 1335(a)(4). Section 1335 says it is a class G felony to intercept without the consent of all parties thereto a message by telephone or other means of communication, except as authorized by law. However, under U.S. v. Vespe, 389 F. Supp. 1359 (1975), even under the privacy laws an individual has the right to record their own conversations. Further, under Section 2402 of Title 11 of the Delaware Code, it is “authorized by law” for a person to record a communication where the person is a party to the communication or where one of the parties to the communication has given prior consent, unless the communication is intercepted for the purpose of a criminal act. Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, § 2402(c)(4).
So, with not knowing how that recording was recorded, and who consented to it, or who was involved in it, we are on questionable ground keeping it posted. Secondly, Cheryl McDonough contacted us herself and alleged that the recording was fabricated from several different “illegal” recordings with the intent to slander her. Now, I don’t know if that is true. But the mere fact that she was raised this defense, coupled with the lack of knowledge of how the recording was made and where it came from, makes it questionable that the recording is authentic or legal. Thus, I am taking it down and anyone reposting it will be moderated.