You may not spend much time thinking about who might be using phone recorders. Maybe you should. While you’re probably not being recorded without your permission, you should always use a certain caution when talking with anyone on the phone, unless that person happens to be your best friend or your mom, and maybe even then.
You don’t want to find out at Thanksgiving dinner that your mother recorded you telling her how much you love her, or how much your oldest sister annoys you.

Seriously, in the course of your everyday business, you should make sure that you say what you mean and keep track of what you say to business clients, partners and suppliers. Above all, don’t say anything that’s not true, and don’t disparage any company or person.

In the grand scheme of things, it is very unlikely that anyone will record your conversations. Business suppliers or clients will usually ask first if they want a copy of the conversation for their records. But you should follow the same practice on the phone that you follow on the Internet. Don’t say anything you wouldn’t want to hear on the evening news.

Again, this is not a big concern. But it’s also not hard to avoid saying things you wouldn’t want repeated. Being businesslike in your business conversations is always a good idea, and you’ll never regret something you don’t say that you shouldn’t have said anyway.

Of course, you can always ask everyone you talk with if they’re using phone recorders, but if they’re secretly recording you, they won’t admit it, it’s a secret after all. And if they’re not, they may think you’re a little weird, or paranoid, or both. In this area the best practice is definitely to just use some common sense and keep your conversation to business topics.

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