
Quoting
Lewis v. LeGrow, 258 Mich. App. 175, 670 NW 2d 675 (2003) (emphasis added)
Initially, we note that eavesdropping is not at issue in this case. MCL 750.539c prohibits eavesdropping but that prohibition is limited by subsection 539a(2) to overhearing, recording, amplifying or transmitting the private discourse of others without the permission of all persons engaged in the discourse. The statute does not define "discourse," but its ordinary dictionary definition is "communication of thought by words; talk; conversation;... any unit of connected speech or writing longer than a sentence." Random House Webster's College Dictionary (1992), p 384. Thus, "eavesdropping" is limited to overhearing, recording, amplifying, or transmitting the private, oral, or written communication of others without the permission of all persons engaged in the communication. For that reason, a participant in a private conversation may record it without "eavesdropping" because the conversation is not the "discourse of others." Sullivan v. Gray, 117 Mich.App. 476, 481, 324 N.W.2d 58 (1982).