Forwarding session data for monitoring/recording

A system for recording and/or monitoring data, by forwarding it without analysing or otherwise filtering the data itself, comprises a communication subsystem 52, including a management unit 59, and a recording/monitoring subsystem 62. The communication subsystem arranges for session data between at least two parties 58,56 to be forwarded to the recording/monitoring subsystem in accordance with rules. The rules may be dynamic, static, deterministic, statistical or event driven and may be set to include consideration of the session's metadata (eg session identifiers such as extension identifiers or telephone numbers). The parties may communicate session data relating to relating to Voice over IP (VoIP) or multimedia such as video conferencing, chat, web collaboration, application sharing, trunk radio or any other data capable of being logged and monitored. The parties' communication devices may be arranged to duplicate their data packets for forwarding to the monitoring device as well as other parties. The Communication subsystem 52's rules may be remotely configured via an external API (application programming interface). A specific embodiment relates to the recording of a VoIP call by joining a recording device (24, fig. 1) in conference with the parties to the call.