Taylor Swift Apparently Knew Her Phone Call with Kanye West Wasn't Private

By Clover Hope  |  July 19, 2016 | 2:15pm
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Taylor Swift may have known other people were listening to her phone conversation with Kanye West about “Famous.”

If so, there’d be no legal ground for Swift to file a lawsuit, according to TMZ, which notes that California law states that recording a “confidential communication” is illegal, but a conversation that’s overheard doesn’t qualify as such. In other words, Swift presumably knew there were other people in the room with West overhearing their conversation:

We’ve heard the full tape … and Taylor knew she was overheard. The conversation from Kanye’s end was on speaker phone, and during the call producer Rick Rubin speaks up several times. Members of the crew filming Kanye on the call also speak in the room.

TMZ seems to be confident that Swift has no case here because:

There’s no doubt listening to the full tape … Taylor knew she was being overheard. As a result, it’s pretty clear … Kanye didn’t violate the law by recording it.

This argument makes sense legally and parallels what lawyer Joy Butler wrote to me yesterday: “Potential loopholes for Kanye and Kim might include showing that Taylor Swift could not have reasonably believed the conversation to be private. However, that loophole seems a stretch quite narrow if Swift participated in the call from her home or private office and had no knowledge that the call was being recorded.”

Image via Getty

 
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