Recording Law for Voiceprints & Biometric Data in Alaska

In Alaska, you can legally record any conversation you’re part of without obtaining the consent of anyone else. The law bars using an "eavesdropping device" to "hear or record all or any part of an oral conversation" unless you get the consent of "a party to the conversation." Because you are a party to the conversation, your own consent satisfies the requirement. This rule applies whether the conversation occurs in person, over the telephone, or through any other electronic means. The operative statutory language is: "A person may not use an eavesdropping device to hear or record all or any part of an oral conversation without the consent of a party to the conversation." The law does not require you to inform others that you are recording, and it applies regardless of whether the conversation takes place in your home, at work, or in public.

Alaska has no statute that prohibits recording on-duty police officers performing their official duties in public. Because the officer is a direct participant in the encounter, their own consent satisfies the one-party consent rule for audio recording, and no separate video restriction exists. Federal courts in the Ninth Circuit—which includes Alaska—have recognized a First Amendment right to record police officers engaged in official duties in public places. While no Alaska-specific case directly addresses this issue, the Ninth Circuit’s holdings are binding precedent applicable to Alaska. This means you can record police interactions in public without violating Alaska’s recording law.

Alaska does not have a statute that specifically regulates voiceprints or other biometric data such as fingerprints or facial scans. No Alaska law requires consent to collect, store, or share a voiceprint, imposes retention limits, or prohibits the sale of biometric data. The state’s only biometric-related law covers genetic testing (DNA), not voiceprints or other biometric identifiers. Several bills have been introduced over the years to create a biometric privacy law similar to Illinois’ BIPA, but none have been enacted. As of now, Alaska imposes no biometric-specific restrictions beyond the general one-party consent rule that applies to recording conversations you participate in.

Alaska’s recording law only applies to audio—it covers "oral conversation" and devices used to "hear or record" speech. If you record video without capturing any audio, the law does not apply. The statute defines "oral communication" as "human speech used to communicate information from one party to another," so silent video recording falls outside the law’s scope. The only exception is a narrow law about indecent viewing or photography of certain body parts, which does not apply to recording public interactions or police encounters.

Alaska’s ethics opinion for attorneys states they are not automatically unethical for recording conversations without telling the other person, as long as the recording is not prohibited by law or used in a way that involves misrepresentation, deceit, or fraud. The Alaska Bar Association Ethics Opinion No. 2003-1 adopts the reasoning of ABA Formal Opinion 01-422 and states: "Like the American Bar Association, this Committee is now of the opinion that electronic recording of a telephone conversation by a lawyer without the consent of the other participant(s) to the conversation is not per se unprofessional conduct if the recording is not prohibited by law or regulation." The opinion also notes that if a court finds the recording violates the state constitutional right to privacy or another law, then it could be considered unprofessional. For attorneys, this means recording conversations is generally allowed as long as it complies with the one-party consent law.

Imagine you’re leading a meeting and want to record it to create voiceprints for a voice-ID system. Under Alaska law, you can do this without telling the participants, because you’re a party to the conversation and the law only requires one-party consent for audio recordings of conversations you join. The recording is legal whether it happens in a private office or a public space. Since Alaska has no law restricting voiceprints or biometric data, you can store and use the recordings without additional consent or retention limits beyond those that apply to any recorded audio of a conversation you participate in. The only exception would be if someone later argues the recording violated their constitutional right to privacy—but that would depend on the specific facts of the situation.