Dale Bumpers: “If you vote no on this amendment, you should be prepared to go home and say to your constituents that you really don't…”

“If you vote no on this amendment, you should be prepared to go home and say to your constituents that you really don't believe in privacy. When we have a law in this country that allows people to tape-record a conversation with you and only they know it is being taped and you don't and that is quite legal, we no longer have any privacy in this country. How do you explain that to your constituents? This bill would make it a criminal offense, as Janet Reno said she favored in Florida, as 15 States have already adopted. We overwhelmingly passed a law to make it a criminal offense to intercept a cellular phone call. What I am trying to do is to extend that to the old archaic rule--think of this, think of this. You can be talking to a person who is your best friend; he or she can be tape-recording that conversation and publish it on the front page of the New York Times or the Washington Post, and there isn't a thing you can do about it. I have exempted law enforcement; I have exempted intelligence agencies; I have exempted everybody who has to make telephone calls in their business; I have exempted people who are threatened or stalked. Please, let's correct this once and for all.”