The consent report
Who has to agree before you press record
Fifty states and the District of Columbia. 11 require everyone in the conversation to consent, 36 require only that you are in it, and 4 depend on how the conversation is happening.
As of .
How the rule works
Recording law in the United States is not one rule. Federal law and thirty-six states let a person who is part of a conversation record it. Eleven states require that everyone in the conversation consent. Four more do not fit either bucket, because the answer changes with the medium or with whether you are facing a prosecutor or a plaintiff.
The rule that binds you is usually the strictest one that touches the conversation. A call between someone in Texas and someone in California is the reason this report exists: two people, two rules, one recording.
Scribe's answer to all of this is not to pick a rule for you. It is to make the recording obvious while it happens — the screen says so, and the app announces it — so that consent is something the room gives rather than something a policy page claims.
What this report does not cover
- It covers conversations you are part of. It says nothing about recording a conversation you are not in, which is a different and much shorter answer: don't.
- It covers audio. Video, screen capture and workplace monitoring have their own rules.
- It states the rule, not your exposure. Whether a particular recording is admissible, or whether making it exposes you to a civil claim, is a question about your facts.
Everyone must consent (11)
In these jurisdictions, being part of the conversation is not enough. If you are unsure which rule applies to a conversation, this is the set to assume you are in.
| Jurisdiction | Statute |
|---|---|
| California | Cal. Penal Code § 632 |
| Delaware | Del. Code tit. 11 § 1335 |
| Florida | Fla. Stat. § 934.03 |
| Illinois | 720 ILCS 5/14-2 |
| Maryland | Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 10-402 |
| Massachusetts | Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 272 § 99 |
| Montana | Mont. Code § 45-8-213 |
| Nevada | Nev. Rev. Stat. §§ 200.620, 200.650 |
| New Hampshire | N.H. Rev. Stat. § 570-A:2 |
| Pennsylvania | 18 Pa. C.S. § 5703 |
| Washington | Wash. Rev. Code § 9.73.030 |
It depends (4)
The popular two-colour maps of this question put every state in one bucket or the other. These four do not fit, because the answer changes with the medium or with whether the exposure is criminal or civil.
| Jurisdiction | Statute |
|---|---|
| Connecticut | Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 53a-189, 52-570d |
| Michigan | Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.539c |
| Oregon | Or. Rev. Stat. § 165.540 |
| Vermont | No recording statute; State v. Geraw and its line of cases |
One party is enough (36)
A person who is part of the conversation may record it. Federal law says the same thing, which is why this is the larger set.
| Jurisdiction | Statute |
|---|---|
| Alabama | Ala. Code §§ 13A-11-30, 13A-11-31 |
| Alaska | Alaska Stat. § 42.20.310 |
| Arizona | Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-3005 |
| Arkansas | Ark. Code § 5-60-120 |
| Colorado | Colo. Rev. Stat. § 18-9-303 |
| District of Columbia | D.C. Code § 23-542 |
| Georgia | Ga. Code § 16-11-62 |
| Hawaii | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 803-42 |
| Idaho | Idaho Code § 18-6702 |
| Indiana | Ind. Code § 35-33.5-5-5 |
| Iowa | Iowa Code § 808B.2 |
| Kansas | Kan. Stat. § 21-6101 |
| Kentucky | Ky. Rev. Stat. § 526.010 |
| Louisiana | La. Rev. Stat. § 15:1303 |
| Maine | Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 15 § 710 |
| Minnesota | Minn. Stat. § 626A.02 |
| Mississippi | Miss. Code § 41-29-531 |
| Missouri | Mo. Rev. Stat. § 542.402 |
| Nebraska | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 86-290 |
| New Jersey | N.J. Stat. § 2A:156A-4 |
| New Mexico | N.M. Stat. § 30-12-1 |
| New York | N.Y. Penal Law §§ 250.00, 250.05 |
| North Carolina | N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-287 |
| North Dakota | N.D. Cent. Code § 12.1-15-02 |
| Ohio | Ohio Rev. Code § 2933.52 |
| Oklahoma | Okla. Stat. tit. 13 § 176.4 |
| Rhode Island | R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-35-21 |
| South Carolina | S.C. Code § 17-30-30 |
| South Dakota | S.D. Codified Laws § 23A-35A-20 |
| Tennessee | Tenn. Code § 39-13-601 |
| Texas | Tex. Penal Code § 16.02 |
| Utah | Utah Code § 77-23a-4 |
| Virginia | Va. Code § 19.2-62 |
| West Virginia | W. Va. Code § 62-1D-3 |
| Wisconsin | Wis. Stat. § 968.31 |
| Wyoming | Wyo. Stat. § 7-3-702 |
Draft — not yet reviewed by counsel. The 51 jurisdiction pages are drafts. Two — California and New York, the clearest example of each rule — are published; the rest are excluded from search engines until counsel has been through them.