There’s a “hot” new story on Yahoo! regarding a blogger who “punked” GOP Chairman Michael Steele.
The blogger named Evan Gahr called Steele and pretended to be a donor to try and get revealing information from Steele (he failed to do so). Gahr has posted his boring conversation on his blog.
This whole “wacky” episode did get me thinking about something that is interesting.
Gahr called Steele at his home in Maryland. The conversation is presented as being a verbatim transcript of the phone call. That would lead me to believe that Gahr recorded the call.
Maryland makes it a crime to record someone over the phone without their consent. Even if Gahr was calling from a state where consent is not required, the Maryland law likely would govern (see previous links).
I don’t know if a recording was made, but if there was a recording, it is possible that this was illegal.
I generally don’t care about Gahr trying to go after Steele, but Gahr’s actions are unethical. If he wants to play journalist, then he needs to do identify himself properly and if Steele isn’t willing to give an interview, then too bad for Gahr.
