Recording Law for Recording in Public in Oregon

In Oregon, you must tell everyone involved before you record an in-person conversation. This is true whether the chat is in a park, a café, a store, or any other place. The law says you can’t record "the whole or any part of a conversation" unless "all participants in the conversation are specifically informed that their conversation is being obtained." This rule comes from Oregon Revised Statutes 165.540(1)(c). The only way around it is if the conversation fits one of the very narrow exceptions, such as a public hearing, a class where recording is expected, or a private meeting where all others knew or reasonably should have known the recording was being made. Otherwise, recording without notice is a Class A misdemeanor. The courts have made this clear. In a 2025 federal case, Project Veritas v. Schmidt, both the majority and dissent agreed Oregon’s rule applies even in public places like cafes and parks. The law treats almost any oral exchange between two or more people as a "conversation" subject to this requirement.

If you’re on a phone call — whether landline or cell — Oregon lets you record without telling the other person, provided you are a participant in the call. This is because phone calls fall under a different part of the law, ORS 165.540(1)(a), which only restricts a person who is not a participant in the call from recording. A participant who records their own phone call falls outside (1)(a) altogether, so nothing in the statute requires them to notify or get consent from the other party. The Oregon State Bar has confirmed this in its formal ethics opinion. Video calls, however, are treated like in-person conversations and require all-party notice. A 2021 law change moved video calls (like Zoom or FaceTime) out of the phone-call category and into the all-party-notice rule.

Oregon’s wiretap law only controls audio recording. If you’re recording video or taking photos without sound, there’s no legal issue under ORS 165.535/165.540. You can film or photograph people in public places, stores, restaurants, or parks without their permission. The law doesn’t restrict silent video or photography at all. This is why many people use cameras or smart glasses in public without worrying about Oregon’s audio recording rules — as long as the device isn’t capturing sound, the law doesn’t apply.

You can record on-duty police officers in Oregon if you do it openly, from a lawful spot, and the audio is audible to normal unaided hearing. The law allows recording an on-duty law enforcement officer from a lawful vantage point without notice, but secret recording of the same officer does not qualify and remains a Class A misdemeanor. This exception only applies to law enforcement officers on official duty — not to other public officials or private citizens. The rule was addressed by the Ninth Circuit in 2025 in Project Veritas v. Schmidt, which upheld the statute’s constitutionality.

If you’re recording inside your own home, Oregon gives you more freedom. The law allows a subscriber to a telecommunication or radio service, or a member of that subscriber’s family, to record any conversation happening in the home without notice to anyone involved. This includes conversations you’re part of, conversations between family members, or even conversations between other people in the home. The rule applies even if the recording device has no active subscription of its own. Three Oregon Court of Appeals cases confirm this: State v. Evensen, State v. Rainey, and Checkley v. Boyd. But this exception only applies in your own home — not in someone else’s home, a hotel, or any other private space you don’t live in.

Imagine you’re sitting in a busy coffee shop and want to record a conversation between two friends at the next table. Under Oregon law, you must tell both people that you’re recording before you start. If you don’t, and you capture any part of their conversation, you could be breaking the law. The same rule applies if you try to secretly record a heated argument between a customer and a store employee — you’d need to inform both people before recording, unless the setting is one of the narrow exceptions like a public hearing or a class where recording is expected. But if you’re just taking a photo or video without sound, there’s no legal issue under this statute. If you’re on a phone call with someone and record it without telling them, that’s fine — but if it’s a video call, you must tell everyone involved before recording.