pappabagge;
The Canadian Lesson, or "Lex Canada" post the SWR111 disaster; despite Canada having - at least on the statute books - a total capping of public CVR and/or ATC R/T disclosure, it only took a matter of months if not weeks before the world was able to access, download or by other means listen to the actual voices of those involved as the situation developed.
Just for the record, it is CVR conversations that are primarily covered by Canada's
Safety Board Act. ATC conversations are considered private and privileged under the Act as well but that has been challenged under Canada's Privacy Act by the courts, (which have also challenged the CVR part of the Act and won in one specific case). The following is a small part from the Safety Board Act:
Privilege for on-board recordings
(2) Every on-board recording is privileged and, except as provided by this section, no person, including any person to whom access is provided under this section, shall (a) knowingly communicate an on-board recording or permit it to be communicated to any person; or
(b) be required to produce an on-board recording or give evidence relating to it in any legal, disciplinary or other proceedings.
Practically speaking, with ACARS trackers, scanners and whatnot and the internet it is too high an expectation that Pilot-ATC conversations will not be subject to you-tube exposure etc, such as the SR111 tapes are. However, the SR111 CVR recordings are not available on the web - only the ATC part is.
Cheers,
PJ2