Laws about Phone Recording

Each state and local jurisdiction, however, can have its own rules about telephone recording.

In general, it is legal to record phone conversations if one person participating in the conversation agrees to the recording. For example, if you are talking on the phone with someone, it is perfectly legal for you to record the conversation – because you have agreed to it being taped. Likewise, if a person working with you to help uncover information is talking on the phone, and the person agrees to have the conversation recorded, than this is legal, as well.

Each state and local jurisdiction, however, can have its own rules about telephone recording. Therefore, laws in your area should be checked before recording phone conversations. For example, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington, mandate that all parties give permission before a phone conversation is recorded. For this reason, it is always best to ask for permission to record a conversation at the beginning of the conversation. If you are attempting to record a conversation in a covert fashion, be sure to check laws on both the state and local level before doing so.

Similarly, most states allow you to give permission to place a tap on your own personal phone. This can, of course, affect anyone in the household who chooses to use the phone. State and local laws should be checked into when giving permission to place a tap on your phone. Each jurisdiction may have its own regulations on informing other members of the household about the tap.

This is where phone recordings can get tricky. With wiretapping, neither party on the phone has agreed to have their conversation listened to or recorded. In the United States and in most countries, recording phone conversations without permission is in direct violation of privacy acts.

If, however, the court can be persuaded to allow a phone tap, then it is legal to install one. To get court permission, it must be proved that a phone tap will provide critical evidence to a case. In some jurisdictions, it can be easy to convince the court to allow wire tapping, while other jurisdictions are not so easily swayed. Usually federal agencies are the entities most capable of convincing a court to allow phone tapping.