Under 'Edit Administrator,' I checked 'Can manage User Extensions?' and I unchecked 'Can manage Recorded Calls?' However, when I log in with that Administrator's credentials and navigate to the 'Edit User Extension' page, I see a section titled 'Call Recording' which allows me to enable call recording.

As far as i can tell this section should not be there if I uncheck 'Can manage Recorded Calls?'

Isn't changing the name for an extension the one basic thing that even simple users would do?
I imaging businesses doing this when employees get hired and fired.
Why would permissions to do such a simple task be tied to managing call recordings?
Is there perhaps another simpler page where the user can perform this task.

The same thing is true about the User Portal permissions. I want an administrator to be able to change the name associated with an extension, but not to change the permissions i set for their user portals.

right now there is not. It does make sense that you should be able to toggle what user portal options even the tenant admin is allowed to set and whether he can alter recorded calls. Call recording can be some of the biggest drain of disk i/o and system resources and can even impact all the calls in use if the load gets too high.

You are also able to active call recording from the Create Queue page.

yeah, until this is done I don't think I'll be able to let users administer much. I do not intend to use the recording feature at all to eliminate the havoc it can wreak on voice quality.

This does make sense - we'll think how to manage the restriction by the global admin. Any suggestion are welcome.

In the mean time is there anyway to disable recording system wide? So even if the customer chooses any recording options they will never actually take effect?

No, not now, unless you change scripts associated with user extensions which is probably not a good idea.

I agree, permission system may be improved and we will look into this further.