-If a person illegally recorded (say like in a two party consent state where everyone being recorded has to be informed) would I be held liable for possessing the recording (assuming they could get to it on encrypted drives)?
IANAL But I'm pretty sure the only way someone would be illegally recorded is if they had a reasonable expectation of privacy. Under most circumstances there isn't a reasonable expectation of privacy in public places. As far as the police, well they are supposedly public servants, so they have no reasonable expectation of privacy while in uniform.
Now, for example, during a phone conversation one has a reasonable expectation of privacy and this is where the one/two party consent stuff comes in.
So, if you were using this to record your encounters with the police, the issue of illegal recordings shouldn't come up. Of course, stranger things have happened.
BTW, can't you forward your cell phone to google voice?
They're using wiretap laws for everything.
http://fwd4.me/z9N That's an article from Time. That picture, if you're not familiar with the video, was from a helmet cam on a motorcycle. That guy in the picture is a cop who jumps out of the car wielding a gun telling him to turn his motorcycle off. Finally, he says, "state police." He still doesn't show a badge. The guy posted the video on Youtube later, so the cops were embarrassed and decided to go back later and charge him with wiretapping. They went into his house, took all of his computers and locked him up. Of course they were wrong (but who cares if a cop is on the wrong side of the law? It's not their job to know it). He was released, but things like this happen a lot.
As for Google Voice, yes, but they only allow three minute voice messages. Lightbox only allows five minutes. I'm going to either have to figure something else out (an answering machine maybe?) or just drop it. I really like the idea of having an exchange recorded remotely.