California recording laws

In-person conversations

All-party consent appears likely to be required

Under Cal. Penal Code §§ 632, 632.7, recording a private face-to-face conversation in California appears likely to require the agreement of every participant. Section 632 applies to a "confidential communication", meaning one where a party has an objectively reasonable expectation that it is not being overheard or recorded; section 632.7 separately addresses calls involving a cellular or cordless telephone.

Conditions that matter

• A conversation can still be private in a public place when people reasonably expect not to be overheard or recorded.
• Give every participant a genuine opportunity to agree or decline before you start.

Telephone calls

All-party consent appears likely to be required

Under Cal. Penal Code §§ 632, 632.7, the California consent exception requires the agreement of every party to the communication, not just yours. Section 632 applies to a "confidential communication", meaning one where a party has an objectively reasonable expectation that it is not being overheard or recorded; section 632.7 separately addresses calls involving a cellular or cordless telephone. On that basis, consent from all participants appears likely to be required before recording a call.

Conditions that matter

• Give every participant a genuine opportunity to agree or decline before you start.
• For sensitive or important conversations, obtain a clear spoken or written "yes".

Internet calls and video meetings

All-party consent appears likely to be required

Under Cal. Penal Code §§ 632, 632.7, an internet call or video meeting is likely to fall within the California rule requiring the agreement of every party before a recording is made.

Conditions that matter

• An internet call or video meeting may be treated as a wire or electronic communication rather than an in-person conversation, and the platform and its host may sit in a different place again.
• A platform's own recording indicator is not the same thing as each participant agreeing.

Recording when you are not part of the conversation

Recording by someone who is not a participant is restricted

Cal. Penal Code §§ 632, 632.7 is aimed squarely at someone who is not part of the conversation capturing it. Recording people you are not talking to — for example by leaving a device running in a room — does not benefit from any participant exception in California and can carry criminal as well as civil consequences.

Conditions that matter

• Consent obtained from one participant does not necessarily cover the others in this situation.
• Harassment, stalking, trespass and child-protection rules can apply on top of the recording statute.

What this source does not resolve

• ?Whether a specific arrangement counts as participating in the conversation is a fact question that should be put to a local lawyer.

Expectation of privacy

Whether the participants reasonably expected not to be recorded is part of the analysis here. That is a question about the circumstances, not about the room: a conversation can still be private in a café, an office, a car or a street when people reasonably expect not to be overheard. Being in a public place does not by itself remove the question.

Sharing and publishing the recording

• The federal statute prohibits disclosing or using the contents of a communication you know was unlawfully intercepted, so publishing or forwarding a recording is a separate question from making it.

Worth knowing

• California treats the question as turning on whether the communication was confidential, so a conversation in a busy public place is not automatically outside the statute — and a conversation in an office is not automatically inside it.
• Section 637.2 allows a civil claim, with statutory damages, on top of any criminal exposure.

Calls that cross a border

When the other participants are somewhere else, more than one set of rules may be relevant, and which one a court would apply is a fact-specific determination this site does not make. Anyone telling you the strictest rule automatically governs is offering a rule of thumb rather than the law. The course that works either way is express consent from everyone — see recording across state lines.

Sources

Official sources first. Secondary guides are used to cross-check interpretations, never as the sole basis for a conclusion.

Other states

• Arkansas recording laws
• Colorado recording laws
• Connecticut recording laws
• All states and the federal baseline
• Recording across state lines