Listen In On Your Kid's Phone Call? In Michigan, You May Go To Jail

DETROIT (WWJ) - It may be deemed a protective gesture by some parents but listening in on your child's phone call could be costly.

How bad could it get?

WWJ Newsradio Legal Analyst Charlie Langton says you could be looking at a felony conviction including two years in prison for eavesdropping on a conversation between your kid and their friend.

State Representative Peter Lucido of Macomb County wants the law to ease up on parents.

"I think we have to be strong and be owning up to the fact that we have a responsibility to our children. Not the children ruling the roost. If my child is going to get on the telephone that I've paid for," says Lucido, "I have every legal right to monitor that phone until that child is 18 years of age --when my legal duty stops. We should stop charging parents for taking parental responsibility and due diligence."

He says parents should be able to listen in on their kids' calls at will -- under the auspices of protecting them.

"Today we have wifi in houses - that actually are phone lines so if you look at the eavesdropping statute - we're only talking about years ago when I was growing up, my mother and father had an extension one upstairs, one downstairs, mom would be downstairs ironing, and you'd pick up the extension, you'd be listening in on the conversation. We didn't think anything of it back then."

Currently, the eavesdropping law only applies to landlines -- interestingly, there's no law prohibiting parents from checking their child's cell phones or electronic media.

"In the eavesdropping statute there was no carve out for the parents at all, or guardians ... We have a responsibility as a parent or legal guardian until the child's seventeen birthday for the child's criminal acts and the child's eighteenth birthday for civil, which means; food, clothing, shelter - we have a liability and responsibility to pay for those things under state law," said Lucido.

In Michigan, a person can legally record a phone conversation without the consent of the person on the other end of the line. However, it is illegal for a third-party to listen in on the conversation or record it.