Recording Law for Streamers & Creators in Michigan

Michigan law splits recording into two buckets. First, you can always record your own conversations without asking anyone’s permission. That’s because the law defines "eavesdropping" as "to overhear, record, amplify or transmit any part of the private discourse of others without the permission of all persons engaged in the discourse" — meaning someone else’s words, not yours. Second, if you’re not part of the conversation and you try to record others, Michigan normally requires consent from everyone involved. This is called an "all-party consent" rule written in the state’s eavesdropping statute: "Any person who is present or who is not present during a private conversation and who wilfully uses any device to eavesdrop upon the conversation without the consent of all parties thereto, or who knowingly aids, employs or procures another person to do the same in violation of this section, is guilty of a felony." The key statutory gate is whether the exchange occurs where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Michigan’s statute defines a "private place" as somewhere you can reasonably expect to be safe from intrusion but excludes "a place to which the public or substantial group of the public has access." If the conversation happens where the public has access — a street, sidewalk, or park — it’s not private, and the all-party rule doesn’t apply.

Michigan’s law defines a "private place" in MCL 750.539a(1) as "a place where one may reasonably expect to be safe from casual or hostile intrusion or surveillance but does not include a place to which the public or substantial group of the public has access." That means streets, sidewalks, parks, and most storefronts are public places. Recording video or audio in those spots is generally allowed because there’s no reasonable expectation of privacy under MCL 750.539a(1). The law even has a separate section about hidden devices in private places (MCL 750.539d), but it only restricts recording where people expect privacy. So filming a dispute on a city sidewalk or a public park is legal without asking anyone’s consent. Just make sure the conversation itself isn’t happening in a truly private area, like inside someone’s home or a back office.

Michigan makes one big exception for homeowners and residents. The law says in MCL 750.539d(2): "The [subsection (1)] does not prohibit security monitoring in a residence if conducted by or at the direction of the owner or principal occupant of that residence, unless conducted for a lewd or lascivious purpose." In plain terms, if you live in a house, apartment, or mobile home, you can record audio or video inside your own home without telling guests or visitors. This applies even if they didn’t know they were being recorded. The only limit is if the recording is for a sexual purpose — then it’s illegal. This rule doesn’t cover someone else’s home, a hotel room, or a friend’s apartment — only your own residence.

Michigan has no statute that bans recording on-duty police in public. The eavesdropping statute only applies where there’s a reasonable expectation of privacy, and courts have said public places don’t count. That said, there’s no published Michigan appellate or Michigan Supreme Court decision that squarely says you have a First Amendment right to record police in public. The closest on-point authority is Crawford v. Geiger, 656 F. App'x 190 (6th Cir. 2016), which is unpublished and therefore not binding law. So while recording police performing public duties on a public street is widely understood to be lawful under Michigan’s statutes, it’s not definitively settled in binding case law. If you’re recording an officer, stay on public property, don’t interfere with their work, and don’t record anything that happens inside a private area. If you’re unsure, pause and ask a lawyer before posting.

Say you’re livestreaming on a public sidewalk when two people start arguing loudly. One person shoves the other, and you keep filming. Because the sidewalk is a place "to which the public or substantial group of the public has access," it is not a "private place" under MCL 750.539a(1), so neither person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, and Michigan’s all-party consent rule doesn’t apply. You’re recording your own perspective of a public event, not secretly listening to a private conversation. The law allows this. But if the argument moves into a nearby store’s private back room and you follow them inside to keep filming, that part of the stream could cross into a private place — and you’d need consent from everyone in that room to keep recording. When in doubt, stay on public property and avoid entering private spaces.

Breaking Michigan’s eavesdropping law is a felony. The statute says anyone who records a private conversation without all parties’ consent can face felony charges under MCL 750.539c. It also allows civil remedies, where the person being recorded can sue for damages under MCL 750.539h. The hidden-device law in MCL 750.539d adds another felony charge for recording in a private place without consent. These penalties apply even if you didn’t mean to break the law — ignorance isn’t a defense. The only safe path is to know where you are (public vs. private), who you’re recording (yourself vs. others), and whether the conversation is truly private. If you’re unsure, stop recording until you are sure.