Yes, you can record a conversation in Wisconsin as long as you’re a participant, because Wisconsin is a one-party consent state under Wisconsin Statute 968.31.1Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 968.31 – Interception and Disclosure of Wire, Electronic or Oral Communications Prohibited You don’t have to tell the other people on the call or in the room. The rule covers phone calls, in-person conversations, and electronic communications. But the permission has real limits, and recording a private conversation you’re not part of is a felony.
What One-Party Consent Actually Means
Only one person in a conversation needs to know a recording is happening, and that person can be you. If you’re on a phone call, sitting in a meeting, or having a face-to-face discussion, you can hit record on your phone without saying anything. The statute also lets someone else record if at least one participant has given prior consent. So if a friend asks you to record their call and you do so with their permission, that recording is legal too.1Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 968.31 – Interception and Disclosure of Wire, Electronic or Oral Communications Prohibited
When One-Party Consent Doesn’t Protect You
The exception is purpose. Wisconsin’s statute strips away the one-party consent protection when the recording is made “for the purpose of committing any criminal or tortious act” or any other injurious act.1Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 968.31 – Interception and Disclosure of Wire, Electronic or Oral Communications Prohibited Recording a conversation to blackmail, extort, harass, or defraud someone is not legal just because you were part of the discussion. The recording becomes the criminal act.
The legality of what you record depends on why you recorded it, not just whether you were in the room.
Recording Conversations You’re Not Part Of
If you aren’t a participant and no participant has authorized you, recording a private conversation is flatly illegal. Placing a hidden recorder to capture someone else’s discussion, tapping a phone line, or using any device to intercept communications between other people all qualify as criminal interception.1Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 968.31 – Interception and Disclosure of Wire, Electronic or Oral Communications Prohibited The statute reaches beyond the recording itself: disclosing the contents, using information you know was illegally obtained, or intentionally altering a recording of an intercepted communication are each separate offenses.
Which Conversations Count as Private
The statute protects “oral communications,” meaning spoken words a person reasonably expects to be private. That expectation is what triggers the law’s protection in the first place. Without it, recording may be permissible regardless of consent.
A conversation shouted across a crowded restaurant carries little expectation of privacy. A hushed discussion behind a closed office door carries a lot. Courts weigh practical factors: how loud the speakers were, whether bystanders could overhear, what steps the participants took to keep the conversation private, and where it happened. Someone speaking at normal volume on a public sidewalk has a weaker privacy claim than someone whispering in their own living room. A shared office with thin walls falls somewhere in between, and a court would look at everything around the conversation before deciding.
Calls That Cross State Lines
Wisconsin’s one-party consent rule only governs what happens in Wisconsin. When you call someone in another state, that state’s recording law may also apply. About a dozen states, including California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, require all parties to consent before a conversation can be recorded. Courts have split on which law governs an interstate call. California’s Supreme Court, for example, held that California’s all-party consent requirement applies whenever one party is in California, even if the other party is in a one-party consent state.
The safe move on interstate calls is to follow the stricter state’s rule. That usually means telling the other person at the start of the call that you’re recording, or confirming which state they’re in before you press record.
Recording at Work
You can legally record your own workplace conversations in Wisconsin without telling coworkers or your boss. That doesn’t mean your employer can’t fire you for it. Many Wisconsin employers include no-recording policies in their handbooks, and violating one is typically grounds for termination even when the recording itself broke no law.
One wrinkle sits on top of that. Under the National Labor Relations Act, employees have a protected right to engage in collective activity about working conditions. If you record to document unsafe conditions, wage violations, or other issues you’re addressing with coworkers, a blanket no-recording policy may not be enforceable against you. The NLRB has generally held that no-recording policies are presumptively lawful when supported by a legitimate business justification, but employers can’t use those policies to punish protected labor activity. The line is fact-specific.
Recording Police and Public Officials
You have a First Amendment right to record law enforcement officers and other government officials performing their duties in public spaces like streets, sidewalks, and parks. Multiple federal appellate courts have recognized this right. It applies to smartphones, cameras, or any other device, as long as you’re lawfully present and not physically interfering with the officer’s work.
Wisconsin’s one-party consent law doesn’t complicate this. A police officer conducting a traffic stop on a public road or making an arrest on a sidewalk has no reasonable expectation of privacy in those actions. You don’t need to be a party to the conversation to film what’s happening in plain view. If an officer tells you to stop recording and you aren’t interfering, that order is generally not lawful.
Hidden Cameras and Visual Surveillance
Wisconsin’s wiretapping statute is about audio. Video surveillance sits under a separate law, Wisconsin Statute 942.08. Installing a surveillance device in a private place, or using one to observe someone who is nude or partially nude without their consent, is a Class A misdemeanor. “Private place” means somewhere a person reasonably expects not to be observed without their knowledge, like a bathroom, locker room, or bedroom. The offense becomes a Class I felony if the victim is a minor or if the recording captures body parts not otherwise visible by shooting under clothing.2Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 942.08 – Invasion of Privacy
A hidden camera in someone’s home that also captures audio could violate both statutes at once, with separate penalties for each.
What Illegal Recording Costs
Any violation of Wisconsin’s wiretapping statute is a Class H felony.1Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 968.31 – Interception and Disclosure of Wire, Electronic or Oral Communications Prohibited A Class H felony carries up to six years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.3Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 939.50 – Classification of Felonies A conviction also carries the collateral consequences of any felony record, including potential loss of voting rights during supervision.
There’s a separate civil track. The person whose communication was illegally recorded can sue under Wisconsin Statute 968.31(2m) and recover:
- Actual damages, or liquidated damages of $100 for each day the violation continued, whichever is greater, with a minimum of $1,000.
- Punitive damages when the conduct warrants them.
- Reasonable attorney fees and litigation costs.1Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 968.31 – Interception and Disclosure of Wire, Electronic or Oral Communications Prohibited
Even a short recording that caused no measurable harm still triggers the $1,000 floor.
Using a Recording as Evidence in Court
A recording made in compliance with Wisconsin law is generally admissible. Whoever offers it has to authenticate it through testimony that it’s accurate and unaltered, either from the person who made it or from someone who was present.
Recorded phone calls in civil cases have their own rule, and it catches people off guard. Under Wisconsin Statute 885.365, voice recordings of telephone conversations are inadmissible in civil lawsuits unless one of two conditions is met:4Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 885.365 – Recorded Telephone Conversation
- The person on the other end was told during the call that the conversation was being recorded and that the recording could be used in court.
- The recording device produced a distinctive tone repeating at roughly 15-second intervals, provided through a telecommunications utility.
So you can legally record a phone call under the one-party consent rule without telling anyone, and then find you can’t use it in a Wisconsin civil courtroom. The recording is still legal to make and possess. Criminal proceedings aren’t subject to this restriction, and recordings obtained through court-authorized wiretaps are also exempt.4Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 885.365 – Recorded Telephone Conversation
If you’re recording a phone call because you might need it in a civil dispute, tell the other person at the start of the call that you’re recording and that the recording may be used in court. That single sentence satisfies the admissibility rule and removes any argument about consent.