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Maine Recording Laws (2026): One-Party Consent, § 710 and § 511

Independently fact-checked against primary sources (last audited August 15, 2026). · Reviewed by the RecordingLaw editorial team. · Law checked current as of August 15, 2026. · 27 primary sources cited on this page. How we verify our legal content

Maine Recording Laws (2026): One-Party Consent, § 710 and § 511

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Maine a one-party or two-party consent state?

Maine is a one-party consent state for wire and oral communications under 15 M.R.S. § 710. The participant rule flows from 15 M.R.S. § 709(4), which excludes the sender or receiver of a communication, and anyone they authorize, from the definition of 'intercept': a participant who records has not intercepted a protected communication at all. Maine has one important overlay: 17-A M.R.S. § 511 imposes an all-party rule when recording occurs inside a private place such as a bathroom, locker room, or changing room.

Can I record a phone call in Maine?

Yes, if you are a party to the call. Under 15 M.R.S. § 710 read with the definition in § 709(4), a participant does not intercept a protected wire communication by recording it. Federal ECPA, 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d), confirms the same one-party result. If you are calling someone in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, or another all-party state, use the stricter state's rule and disclose the recording at the start of the call.

Can I record someone in person in Maine without telling them?

It depends on where the conversation takes place. In public settings, sidewalks, restaurants, or open workplaces, participant recording is lawful under 15 M.R.S. § 710. In a private place under 17-A M.R.S. § 511 (bathroom, locker room, changing room, bedroom, or anywhere with a reasonable expectation of freedom from surveillance), every person entitled to privacy in that place must consent. Recording in a private place without that consent is a Class D crime punishable by up to 364 days and a $2,000 fine.

Is recording someone without consent a felony in Maine?

Yes. Unauthorized interception of a wire or oral communication under 15 M.R.S. § 710(1), (2), (3), or (5) is a Class C crime in Maine, punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Selling an interception device under § 710(6) is a Class B crime (up to 10 years and $20,000). Recording in a private place without consent under 17-A M.R.S. § 511 is a Class D crime (up to 364 days and $2,000).

What can I sue for if someone illegally recorded me in Maine?

Under 15 M.R.S. § 711, you may recover actual damages, but at minimum $100 per day for each day of violation, plus reasonable attorney fees and other litigation disbursements. There is no statutory punitive-damages provision in chapter 102, though Maine common-law punitive doctrine may apply where independent malice is shown.

Are Ring cameras and nanny cams legal in Maine?

A Ring or doorbell camera pointed at your own porch or public spaces is generally lawful, though audio capturing bystander conversations where no party consents may create exposure under 15 M.R.S. § 710. A nanny cam in a living room or kitchen is generally permissible. Any camera placed in or reaching a private place (bathroom, bedroom, locker room) violates 17-A M.R.S. § 511(1)(B), a Class D crime, regardless of whether the camera captures audio.

Can I record the police in Maine?

Yes. The First Circuit has recognized a First Amendment right to openly record on-duty police in public under Glik v. Cunniffe, 655 F.3d 78 (1st Cir. 2011), and extended that right to secret audio recording in Project Veritas Action Fund v. Rollins, 982 F.3d 813 (1st Cir. 2020). Maine chapter 102 may not be used to prosecute citizen recording of police engaged in public duties. Practical limits: maintain a reasonable distance, do not interfere with the scene, and comply with lawful time, place, and manner orders.

Can my employer ban recording at work in Maine?

A Maine employer who participates in a conversation may record it under the one-party rule. Blanket employer no-recording handbook policies are presumptively unlawful under NLRB Stericycle, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 113 (2023), unless narrowly tailored to a legitimate business interest with carve-outs for Section 7 protected activity. NLRB GC 25-07 (June 25, 2025) also makes surreptitious recording of collective-bargaining sessions a per se Section 8 violation, overriding Maine's one-party rule for that narrow context.

Updates

Corrected the description of Project Veritas Action Fund v. Rollins to the police-only holding the First Circuit actually reached, corrected the interview-recording citation to 25 M.R.S. section 2803-B(1)(K) for suspects and (K-1) for witnesses, and fixed a changelog entry that named the wrong subsection as the source of Maine one-party rule.

Removed an inaccurate claim that Maine has a statewide law requiring police body cameras; the cited statute does not exist and the 2019 bill that would have created one died in 2020. Corrected the statutory citation for Maine's one-party recording rule from § 709(5) to § 709(4).

Independently fact-checked against the cited primary sources; governing law re-checked for recent changes

Governing law re-checked for recent changes

Governing law re-checked for recent changes

Reviewed and approved by an editor

Restructured for readability: condensed the dense original (~10,000 words) to clean sections at scannable length while retaining every verified statute, case, and citation. New structure: AEO lede, at-a-glance table, separate in-person/phone/hidden-camera/police sections, consolidated special-topics subsections (workplace NLRB, AI deepfake/TAKE IT DOWN, AI chatbot disclosure, FCC 24-17, body-worn cameras, FOAA public meetings, federal overlay), recent-developments bullet list, in-depth sub-page index, updated FAQ (8 Qs). All load-bearing facts re-verified June 2026 against legislature.maine.gov primary sources: 15 M.R.S. §§ 709(5), 710, 711 and 17-A M.R.S. § 511 confirmed correct. No corrections required.

Refresh: Anchored Maine's dual-regime structure (15 M.R.S. § 710 one-party participant rule for wire and oral communications, plus 17-A M.R.S. § 511 all-party private-place rule for surveillance inside bathrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms, and bedrooms). The doctrinal hook for the one-party rule is the 'expectation' element in the definition of 'oral communication' at 15 M.R.S. § 709(4), reinforced by federal ECPA preemption under 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d). Corrected 15 M.R.S. § 711 framing to civil remedy ($100/day or $1,000 floor, whichever higher, plus attorney's fees and litigation disbursements); the prior baseline incorrectly cited § 711 as the device-sale Class B felony statute. The device-sale offense is § 710(6). Added Maine LD 1944 / PL 2025, c. 400 ('An Act to Protect Children and Adults from Technology-facilitated Sexual Abuse'), signed by Governor Janet Mills on June 20, 2025, expanding 17-A M.R.S. § 511-A to expressly reach AI-generated and deepfake intimate imagery via the 'created or modified so that it appears to show' phrase. Added 10 M.R.S. § 1500-DD AI chatbot disclosure law (LD 1727 of 132d Legislature; effective 2025), enforceable through Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act. Corrected body-worn camera statute citation to 25 M.R.S. § 3842 within Title 25, Chapter 411-2 (Law Enforcement Officers' Body-Worn Cameras), enacted SP 198 / LD 636 in 129th Legislature with effective date January 1, 2021; pre-refresh draft cited 25 M.R.S. § 2806-D, which is incorrect. Added Project Veritas Action Fund v. Rollins, 982 F.3d 813 (1st Cir. 2020), extending Glik v. Cunniffe (1st Cir. 2011) to secret audio recording of police officers performing public duties; together they give Maine the strongest record-the-police posture in the country. Updated FCC One-to-One Consent Rule (FCC 23-107, sometimes referenced as FCC 24-24) status to vacated by 11th Cir. Insurance Marketing Coalition Ltd. v. FCC (mandate Apr. 30, 2025); FCC subsequently removed implementing 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(f)(9). Removed reliance on stale 47 C.F.R. § 64.501 (which was removed effective Nov. 20, 2017). FCC Declaratory Ruling 24-17 (Feb. 8, 2024) on AI-voice robocalls confirmed as in force. Added NLRB Stericycle, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 113 (Aug. 2, 2023) (workplace no-recording rules presumptively unlawful unless narrowly tailored), GC 25-05 (Feb. 14, 2025) (Boeing-era prosecutorial discretion reinstated; Stericycle still good Board law), and GC 25-07 (June 25, 2025) (surreptitious recording of NLRA collective-bargaining sessions as bad-faith bargaining). Added federal TAKE IT DOWN Act (Pub. L. 119-12, signed May 19, 2025; covered-platform notice-and-takedown obligation effective May 19, 2026). Replaced commercial-codifier URLs with legislature.maine.gov, mainelegislature.org, courts.maine.gov, and government-domain federal sources. No Maine Supreme Judicial Court case-law spine was located in primary research; article relies on statutory text and First Circuit federal authority.

Refresh: Anchored Maine's dual-regime structure (15 M.R.S. § 710 one-party participant rule for wire and oral communications, plus 17-A M.R.S. § 511 all-party private-place rule). The doctrinal hook for the one-party rule is 15 M.R.S. § 709(4), which excludes the sender or receiver of a communication, and anyone they authorize, from the definition of 'intercept'. An earlier version of this entry attributed the rule to the 'expectation' element in the definition of 'oral communications' at § 709(5), which answers the separate question of whether a communication is protected at all; that was corrected in August 2026. Federal ECPA preemption under 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d) reinforces the same one-party result. Corrected 15 M.R.S. § 711 framing to civil remedy ($100/day liquidated damages, plus attorney fees); prior baseline incorrectly cited § 711 as the device-sale Class B felony statute. Added Maine LD 1944 / PL 2025, c. 400 (signed June 20, 2025), expanding 17-A M.R.S. § 511-A to AI-generated and deepfake imagery. Added 10 M.R.S. § 1500-DD AI chatbot disclosure law. Added a body-worn-camera note citing 25 M.R.S. § 3842; that citation was later found fabricated (the section does not exist) and was corrected August 2026 to state that Maine has no statewide body-worn camera mandate. Added Project Veritas Action Fund v. Rollins (1st Cir. 2020), extending Glik to secret audio recording of police. Updated FCC One-to-One Consent Rule status to vacated (11th Cir., mandate Apr. 30, 2025). Confirmed FCC 24-17 in force. Added Stericycle, GC 25-05, GC 25-07, and TAKE IT DOWN Act.

Added wearable recording device guidance covering AI voice recorders (Plaud) and smart glasses (Meta Ray-Bans) under Maine one-party consent law.

Sources and References

  1. legislature.maine.gov.gov
  2. legislature.maine.gov.gov
  3. legislature.maine.gov.gov
  4. mainelegislature.org.gov
  5. legislature.maine.gov.gov
  6. legislature.maine.gov.gov
  7. mainelegislature.org.gov
  8. legislature.maine.gov.gov
  9. legislature.maine.gov.gov
  10. LD 636 / SP 198 (129th Legislature) bill status - died as a study resolve, Nov. 16, 2020 (Maine Legislature)(mainelegislature.org).gov
  11. legislature.maine.gov.gov
  12. maine.gov.gov
  13. legislature.maine.gov.gov
  14. media.ca1.uscourts.gov.gov
  15. media.ca1.uscourts.gov.gov
  16. media.ca1.uscourts.gov.gov
  17. uscode.house.gov.gov
  18. justice.gov.gov
  19. congress.gov.gov
  20. docs.fcc.gov.gov
  21. media.ca11.uscourts.gov.gov
  22. nlrb.gov.gov
  23. nlrb.gov.gov
  24. nlrb.gov.gov
  25. ftc.gov.gov
  26. ecfr.gov.gov
  27. uscode.house.gov.gov
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