Oregon is a single-party consent state for phone calls, but not for in-person conversations. If you are on a phone call, you can record it without telling the other person. If you are talking face to face, ORS 165.540 requires you to inform every participant that the conversation is being recorded before you start.1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 165 – Offenses Involving Fraud or Deception That split is what makes Oregon unusual, and it is where most people get into trouble.
Phone Calls: One Party Is Enough
For telecommunications and radio communications, Oregon uses a one-party consent standard. The statute prohibits obtaining a telecommunication to which you are “not a participant” unless at least one participant consents.1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 165 – Offenses Involving Fraud or Deception If you are on the line, your own participation satisfies the consent requirement. You do not have to announce the recording, ask permission, or beep the line.
The one place this rule ends is where you stop being a participant. You cannot record a call you are not part of. Planting a device on someone else’s line, or setting a phone to capture a conversation you leave the room during, is not one-party consent; it is unlawful interception.
In-Person Conversations: Everyone Must Be Told
Face-to-face is where Oregon breaks with the one-party model. ORS 165.540(1)(c) makes it illegal to record any part of a conversation unless all participants are “specifically informed” that the conversation is being recorded.1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 165 – Offenses Involving Fraud or Deception
Read that word carefully. The statute says “informed,” not “consent.” Oregon does not require the other person to agree. You just have to tell them. If they keep talking after you say the conversation is being recorded, the recording is legal. If they walk away, you have your answer. What you cannot do is stay quiet and hit record.
When You Can Record Without Telling Everyone
ORS 165.540 carves out situations where the all-party notification rule does not apply. These cover most of the scenarios where people actually want to record.
- Unconcealed device at public or semipublic proceedings. If your recording device is visible and you are at a public meeting, government hearing, trial, press conference, rally, sporting event, or similar gathering, you can record without informing anyone.1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 165 – Offenses Involving Fraud or Deception
- Classrooms and educational settings. The same unconcealed-device exception covers regularly scheduled classes at public and private institutions.
- Private meetings where participants know. If everyone present knew or reasonably should have known the recording was happening, the notification rule is satisfied.
- Evidence of unlawful activity on a video conference call. A participant can record without full notice if the intent is to capture alleged unlawful activity and the person is working with law enforcement, an attorney, or a regulatory entity, or reasonably believes the recording could be used in a legal or administrative proceeding.1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 165 – Offenses Involving Fraud or Deception
The unconcealed-device exception is what allows people to openly film police officers performing official duties in public. Holding your phone up during a traffic stop is fine as long as the device is visible, you are lawfully present, and you can hear the conversation with normal unaided hearing.1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 165 – Offenses Involving Fraud or Deception Hiding a recorder in your pocket puts you back under the all-party notification rule. And interfering with an officer’s duties while recording is a separate crime under ORS 162.247, regardless of what the recording law allows.
What Happens If You Get It Wrong
A violation of ORS 165.540 is a Class A misdemeanor.1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 165 – Offenses Involving Fraud or Deception Under Oregon’s sentencing statutes, that carries a maximum fine of $6,250 and up to 364 days in county jail.2Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes 161.635 – Fines for Misdemeanors The classification is the same whether you secretly recorded a phone call you were not part of or failed to inform someone during an in-person conversation.
The exposure does not end with the recording itself. Sharing, using, or attempting to use a recording you know was illegally obtained is a separate violation of the statute, as is receiving one while knowing it was illegally obtained. Each carries the same misdemeanor penalty.
Civil liability runs alongside the criminal side. Someone who was illegally recorded can sue for damages, and federal wiretap law adds another route: under 18 U.S.C. 2520, a person whose communications are intercepted in violation of federal law can recover the greater of actual damages or statutory damages of $100 per day of violation, with a $10,000 minimum.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2520 – Recovery of Civil Damages Authorized One illegal recording can generate liability under state and federal claims at the same time.
Calling Someone in Another State
Oregon’s one-party rule for phone calls feels straightforward until the person on the other end is somewhere with stricter law. About a dozen states require all-party consent for phone recordings. Courts have not settled cross-border cases uniformly, but some federal courts have applied the law of the state where the recorded party was located, reasoning that the caller “knowingly reached into” the stricter state.
The Federal Communications Commission has stated that it has no rules regarding the recording of telephone conversations by individuals.4Federal Communications Commission. Recording Telephone Conversations The safe move for interstate calls is to assume the stricter state’s rule applies. If you are in Oregon calling into California, Washington, or another all-party consent state, tell the other person you are recording.
Video-Only Recording Is a Different Question
ORS 165.540 governs audio. It addresses obtaining “any conversation, telecommunication or radio communication.” Silent video in a public place falls outside this statute, so filming without audio in a park, on a sidewalk, or at a public event is not restricted by Oregon’s recording consent law.
Video has its own limit under ORS 30.831, which creates a civil claim for invasion of personal privacy when someone knowingly records a person in a state of nudity without consent in a place where the person had a reasonable expectation of privacy.5Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes 30.831 – Action for Invasion of Personal Privacy; Attorney Fees The statute lists bathrooms, dressing rooms, locker rooms, tanning booths, and any enclosed space where a person undresses. A prevailing plaintiff can recover compensatory damages and reasonable attorney fees, and the claim must be filed within two years.
So the shorthand answer to whether Oregon is a single-party consent state is: yes for phones, no for in-person audio, and outside the consent framework entirely for silent video. Which rule you are under depends entirely on what you are recording and where the other person is.