Recording Law for Streamers & Creators in Montana

Montana’s wiretap law only bans recording or causing to be recorded a conversation by use of a hidden electronic or mechanical device without the knowledge of all parties to the conversation. If your camera or microphone is openly visible—like a body cam worn on your chest or a phone held in your hand—you can record yourself and others in public without asking for consent. Because a visibly worn device is not 'hidden,' the statute’s core prohibition is never triggered, regardless of location. The statute also contains an explicit knowledge-cure: under §45-8-213(2)(a)(iii), 'persons given warning of the transcription or recording. If one person provides the warning, either party may record' — meaning that once one party announces the recording, the recording becomes lawful even if others don’t affirmatively agree. So if you’re streaming or filming in a park, on a sidewalk, or in any other public space, you’re on solid ground as long as your gear isn’t concealed.

Montana’s hidden-device rule only applies to recordings of 'a conversation' captured by a hidden device. The statute criminalizes recording or causing to be recorded a conversation by use of a hidden electronic or mechanical device that reproduces a human conversation without the knowledge of all parties to the conversation; it targets speech reproduction and does not restrict silent video with no audio captured. That means you can livestream or film public scenes, events, or interactions without worrying about Montana’s wiretap law—even if people in the shot don’t know they’re being recorded. The only exception is if you’re secretly filming someone in a place where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy, like inside a restroom or a changing room, but that’s covered by a different law and isn’t the typical streaming scenario.

Montana has no law stopping you from recording police officers while they’re performing their official duties in public. Courts in the Ninth Circuit—which covers Montana—have ruled that filming or livestreaming police in public is protected by the First Amendment: Fordyce v. City of Seattle, 55 F.3d 436 (9th Cir. 1995), and Askins v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Security, 899 F.3d 1035, 1044 (9th Cir. 2018). The state’s hidden-device wiretap law doesn’t apply here because the officer isn’t engaged in a private conversation being covertly captured, and a visibly worn device isn’t 'hidden.' Just make sure your recording doesn’t interfere with police activity. If an officer tells you to stop, follow their instructions to avoid escalating the situation.

Montana’s wiretap statute does not define 'public place' and does not contain a public-place exception; instead, the dispositive question is whether the recording device is hidden. Places like sidewalks, parks, retail stores, or lobbies are public, but areas within those spaces—like a fitting room, restroom stall, or a closed office—can carry a risk of a civil invasion-of-privacy claim under Montana’s constitutional right to privacy (Article II, § 10) if a person has a genuine expectation of privacy there, even if the hidden-device law doesn’t apply. The statute’s hidden-device element functions as a de facto open-recording exception: a visibly worn body-camera or wearable is not a 'hidden' device, so recording with it arguably falls outside the statute’s core prohibition entirely, regardless of location. The safer practice in enclosed or secluded sub-spaces is to announce your recording before entering.

Say you’re a Montana streamer filming a man-on-the-street interview in downtown Billings. You’re wearing a GoPro on your chest, and the microphone is clearly visible. You start recording and announce, 'This is being livestreamed for my channel.' A bystander walks into the shot and starts arguing with the person you’re interviewing. You keep recording. Under Montana law, this is lawful because your device isn’t hidden and the interaction is captured by an openly worn device; the statute’s hidden-device prohibition is not triggered. If the bystander had been in a closed office or restroom, the situation could raise a separate civil privacy issue under Montana’s constitutional right to privacy, but in an open plaza, you’re protected by the statute’s structure.

Breaking Montana’s hidden-device law is a crime, but it only applies if you record or cause to be recorded a conversation by use of a hidden electronic or mechanical device without the knowledge of all parties to the conversation. The penalty for violating §45-8-213 is a misdemeanor, with felony tiers for repeat offenses under §45-5-223, which creates a stricter offense for surreptitious visual observation or recording of an occupant within or near a private residence without the occupant’s knowledge, with penalties escalating up to 5 years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine on a third-or-subsequent conviction. If you record someone in a place where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy—like a restroom or changing room—you could face civil liability for invasion of privacy under Montana’s constitutional right to privacy, even if your device wasn’t hidden. In practice, these risks are low for streamers recording openly in public, but they’re not zero if you stray into secluded areas or record private conversations without notice.

Montana’s wiretap statute does not have a home-specific carve-out, but a separate offense under §45-5-223 criminalizes surreptitious visual observation or recording of an occupant 'within or in the vicinity of a private dwelling house, apartment, or other place of residence,' done without the occupant’s knowledge. This provision is aimed at covert surveillance inside a residence rather than open recording of a dispute, so it would primarily matter if the wearable-device use case involved covertly recording inside someone else’s home; it would not apply to an openly worn device capturing an incident that happens to occur inside a residence with the occupant’s awareness. If you openly record inside another person’s home without their knowledge, you could still face civil claims under Montana’s constitutional right to privacy.

Montana’s hidden-device statute does not restrict recording in enclosed public spaces if the device is openly worn. However, Montana’s constitutional right to privacy (Article II, § 10) protects individuals from unreasonable infringement in places where they have a genuine expectation of privacy, even in public buildings. Courts have applied this right against government surveillance but have not squarely addressed private disputes in secluded sub-spaces like fitting rooms, restrooms, or private offices within public buildings. The safer practice is to announce your recording before entering any enclosed or secluded area, even if your device is openly worn.