Recording Law for Phone & Video Calls in Minnesota

Minnesota lets you record any phone call, Zoom call, Microsoft Teams call, FaceTime call, or other electronic conversation you are part of without telling the other person. The law treats you as one of the parties to the call, so your consent is enough. This is called “one-party consent.” The rule comes from Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 626A (Wire, Electronic, or Oral Communications; Interception), specifically Minn. Stat. § 626A.02 INTERCEPTION AND DISCLOSURE OF WIRE, ELECTRONIC, OR ORAL COMMUNICATIONS PROHIBITED, which makes it illegal to intercept or disclose the contents of wire, electronic, or oral communications unless the person is a party to the communication or one of the parties has given prior consent under Minn. Stat. § 626A.02, subd. 2(d). That means if you’re on the call, you can record it for your own use without warning the other side. This applies to business calls, personal calls, and video meetings the same way.

The statute covers any “electronic communication,” which includes phone calls, text chats, video calls over the internet, and similar real-time transmissions, as well as “wire communications,” like traditional phone lines. The law does not require the call to be made from a Minnesota phone number or device — it applies as long as the call is intercepted in Minnesota. The definitions of “electronic communication” and “wire communication” are found in Minn. Stat. § 626A.01, subds. 14 and 3 respectively. The one-party consent standard applies to all of them the same way it applies to phone calls.

If you record only video with no audio, Minnesota’s wiretap law does not apply. The law targets the interception of “wire, electronic, or oral communications,” which all involve sound or data transmissions. A silent video recording captures images only and does not intercept any communication covered by the statute. Minnesota has a separate voyeurism statute, Minn. Stat. § 609.746, which can criminalize surreptitious video recording in private spaces like bathrooms or through windows, but that is a different law aimed at protecting the privacy of third parties in their own private spaces, not the recorder’s own home, and it does not apply to openly recording public disputes or police interactions. Openly recording a public dispute or police interaction with a silent video camera is not restricted by the wiretap statute.

Recording an on-duty police officer performing official duties in a public place is not illegal under Minnesota’s wiretap law. The statute’s one-party consent rule and its “oral communication” definition do not create a blanket ban on recording such interactions. However, federal courts applying Minnesota law are split on whether there is a First Amendment right to record police in public. In Chestnut v. Wallace, 947 F.3d 1085 (8th Cir. 2020), the Eighth Circuit noted in dicta that every other federal appeals court recognizes such a right, but in Molina v. Book, No. 21-1830 (8th Cir. 2023), a divided panel held that the right was not “clearly established” at the time, so officers could not be sued for interfering with it. Another case, Akins v. Knight, No. 16-3555 (8th Cir. 2017), involved a police station lobby and is narrower. The upshot: recording police in public is not itself illegal under the wiretap statute, and the Eighth Circuit trend supports a First Amendment right to do so, but whether you can sue if an officer stops you is still unsettled. Minnesota’s own wiretap statute does not create that problem — it only sets the baseline legality of the recording itself.

Imagine you’re on a Zoom call with a client and a coworker to discuss a contract. You start recording the call on your laptop to keep notes. Because Minnesota is a one-party consent state under Minn. Stat. § 626A.02, subd. 2(d), you do not need to tell the client or coworker you’re recording. The recording stays legal as long as you don’t share it outside your company or use it for anything unrelated to the call. If the call later becomes part of a dispute, you can use the recording as evidence. The same rule applies if you’re on a phone call or any other electronic conversation you are part of.

Minnesota’s wiretap law makes it a crime to intentionally intercept or disclose the contents of a wire, electronic, or oral communication without consent. The penalty depends on the circumstances. Under Minn. Stat. § 626A.02, subd. 4(a), it can be a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $20,000 fine. Under subd. 4(b)(1), it can be a gross misdemeanor with up to a year in jail and a $3,000 fine. Under subd. 4(b)(2), there are lesser penalties for less serious violations. The law also allows someone whose communications were intercepted to sue you in civil court for damages and other relief under Minn. Stat. § 626A.13. These penalties apply only if you intercept a communication you are not part of or share it without consent — simply recording a call you are on does not trigger them.