Call Recording Laws in New York

Plain-English summary

New York is a one-party-consent state. N.Y. Penal Law § 250.05 criminalizes eavesdropping, defined to include “wiretapping, mechanical overhearing of conversation, or the intercepting or accessing of an electronic communication.” The defined term “wiretapping” (§ 250.00(1)) requires that the interception be done by a person other than a sender or receiver, exempting participants.

A participant may record an ordinary phone call in New York without notifying the other party. New York does not provide a private civil remedy comparable to federal § 2520, so enforcement is primarily criminal and via common-law privacy claims.

Case law of note

No appellate decision in New York has materially reshaped the participant-recording rule in recent decades. Lower-court decisions exist but do not change the analytical framework set by the statute and by general federal precedent under § 2511.

Edge cases and special rules

In-person vs. phone. Same — one-party
Voicemail. Leaving a message creates the recording at the recipient’s direction; reviewing one’s own voicemail is not interception.
Vicarious consent. Several federal courts have recognized a parental-consent doctrine permitting a parent to consent on behalf of a minor child (Pollock v. Pollock, 154 F.3d 601 (6th Cir. 1998)). State law varies; no controlling New York appellate decision on the question.
Law enforcement. Court-authorized intercepts are governed by a separate framework and are outside the scope of this page.
Cross-border calls. Where any participant is in an all-party state, treat the stricter rule as the safer default. See cross-border calls.

Penalties and remedies

Criminal: Class E felony under § 250.05 (eavesdropping).

Civil: Common-law privacy claims; no general statutory civil remedy.

Evidence: a recording made in violation of the New York statute is generally inadmissible in New York proceedings. Federal § 2515 separately bars use of unlawfully intercepted communications in federal proceedings.

Practical guidance

If you are recording an ordinary phone call: you may record without notifying the other party, but verbal consent is the safer practice if the recording may be used in a proceeding.
Suggested opening: See our consent script templates for jurisdiction-specific language.
If the other party objects: stop recording. Continued recording over an objection is a separate factual question that no consent statute helps you with.
What to keep: the date and time of the call, the parties’ phone numbers, a description of the consent given (express verbal, continued participation after notice, etc.), and the audio file itself.