EnglishEspañol
New York flag

New York

New York Recording Laws (2026): One-Party Consent Rules

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. · 41 primary sources cited on this page. How we verify our legal content

New York Recording Laws (2026): One-Party Consent Rules

Frequently Asked Questions

Is New York a one-party or two-party consent state?

One-party. Under N.Y. Penal Law section 250.05, any participant in a conversation can record it without telling the other party. Section 250.00 defines illegal recording as overhearing a conversation without the consent of at least one party by a person not present. A participating recorder satisfies both conditions, as the Court of Appeals confirmed in People v. McGee, 49 N.Y.2d 48 (1979).

Can I record a phone call in New York without telling the other person?

Yes, if you are on the call. New York applies the same one-party rule to phone calls, VoIP, and video conferencing. The caveat: if the other party is in an all-party state such as California, Florida, or Illinois, the most-restrictive-state rule applies and you should get their consent first.

Is illegal recording a felony in New York?

Yes. Eavesdropping under section 250.05, meaning recording a conversation you are not part of without any participant's consent, is a class E felony carrying up to four years in prison. Unlawful video surveillance under section 250.45 is also a class E felony. A repeat unlawful-surveillance offense under section 250.50 is a class D felony with up to seven years and mandatory sex-offender registration.

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

There is no civil cause of action attached to Penal Law section 250.05. Your federal remedy is 18 U.S.C. section 2520 (actual damages or statutory damages of the greater of $100 per day or $10,000, plus attorney fees). If the recording involved intimate images, Civil Rights Law section 52-b provides a state cause of action for compensatory and punitive damages, plus injunctive relief and attorney fees. Section 52-b does not provide statutory damages. If the interference was by police, Civil Rights Law section 79-p allows suit for compensatory and punitive damages.

Are Ring doorbells and nanny cams legal in New York?

Doorbells and outdoor cameras are legal. A camera recording inside a bathroom, bedroom, changing room, or hotel room without the occupant's consent is a class E felony under Penal Law section 250.45 regardless of who owns the property. Nanny cams in common living areas are generally lawful; nanny cams in private spaces are not.

Can I record my boss or an HR meeting in New York?

Yes. As a participant in the conversation, you may record it under the one-party rule without telling your employer. An employer cannot lawfully fire you solely for recording your own workplace conversations about wages, working conditions, or harassment, because that is protected concerted activity under the NLRA per Stericycle, 372 NLRB No. 113 (2023). A blanket no-recording policy that could chill such activity risks invalidation.

Can I record the police in New York?

Yes. N.Y. Civil Rights Law section 79-p, effective July 14, 2020, gives non-detained people the right to record law-enforcement activity. If an officer interferes, you have a private right of action for compensatory and punitive damages, injunctive relief, and attorney fees. New York City residents also have parallel rights under NYC Admin Code section 14-189.

Will S.5070 or S.5077 change New York to two-party consent?

Not yet. Both bills are pending in the Senate Codes Committee. They are reintroductions of bills that have failed in every session since 2018. Until one is enacted and signed, New York remains one-party consent under Penal Law section 250.05. This page will be updated if either bill advances.

Updates

Corrected the effective date of the Right to Record Act (Civil Rights Law section 79-p) to July 14, 2020, the thirtieth day after it was signed into law on June 14, 2020, replacing an incorrect November 14, 2020 date.

Corrected an overstated damages claim for Civil Rights Law 52-b (it provides compensatory and punitive damages, injunctive relief, and attorney fees, not statutory damages), and replaced two dead citation links (a stale federal-court URL and a broken NYC Council legislation link) with a working NYC Administrative Code source.

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

Governing law re-checked for recent changes

Competitive gap-check vs. #1 organic result (Megan Thomas Law, PLLC employment-law blog). Fixed dead citation URL for People v. McGee, 49 N.Y.2d 48 (1979): the nycourts.gov archive link 404'd, replaced with CourtListener (opinion/5683996). Added vicarious-consent doctrine for recordings involving a minor child under People v. Badalamenti, 27 N.Y.3d 423 (2016), verified against the official NY Slip Op reporter (nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2016/2016_02556.htm). Competitor's workplace-policy and interstate-call points were already covered here; no other gaps found.

Reviewed and approved by an editor

Restructure: Rewrote page to the recording-redo spec. Condensed 12,000-word hub into clean scannable sections. Added at-a-glance table, re-ordered core sections (in-person, phone, hidden cameras, penalties, police), compressed special topics (workplace, deepfakes, AI replicas, TAKE IT DOWN, body-cams, courtroom, CPLR 4506, ECPA) into tight subsections, added dated recent-developments list, added in-depth subpage index, refreshed FAQ (8 Qs), and added inline images from meta pool. Audit-and-fix pass June 2026: all load-bearing facts re-verified against nysenate.gov primary sources. One fix: replaced fabricated ca2.uscourts.gov URL for Reyes v. City of New York, No. 23-7640 (2d Cir. June 18, 2025) with correct CourtListener citation (courtlistener.com/opinion/9889178). All statutes confirmed: section 250.05 class E felony, section 250.45 class E felony, section 250.50 class D felony (prior unlawful-surveillance conviction within 10 years; mandatory SORA registration per COR 168-a confirmed), section 79-p right to record, section 52-c employer monitoring penalties ($500/$1,000/$3,000), S.1042-A deepfake amendment Sept 29 2023, S.5070/S.5077 still in Senate Codes Committee. Zero em-dashes, zero banlist links.

Refresh: Added N.Y. Penal Law section 245.15 deepfake amendment via Hinchey S.1042-A, signed October 2, 2023 and effective December 1, 2023 (60-day delay), with Civil Rights Law section 52-b parallel civil cause of action. Added N.Y. Civil Rights Law section 50-f digital-replica amendments signed December 11, 2025 (removing prior likelihood-of-deception requirement and disclaimer exemption). Added N.Y. Civil Rights Law section 79-p Right to Record Act (signed June 14, 2020; effective approximately November 14, 2020) as the lead authority for recording New York police, ahead of any Second Circuit First Amendment doctrine. Added Reyes v. City of New York (2d Cir. June 18, 2025) procedural framing and certified statutory question pending in the New York Court of Appeals. Reframed S.5070 and S.5077 as pending only in the Senate Codes Committee, with multi-session reintroductions failing since 2018 (S.9173). Added N.Y. General Business Law section 399-z(2) telemarketing-disclosure carve-out disambiguation against the main one-party rule. Updated FCC 24-24 status to vacated (Insurance Marketing Coalition Ltd. v. FCC, 11th Cir. Jan. 24, 2025; mandate April 30, 2025; FCC formal final-rule elimination September 2025); removed stale 47 C.F.R. section 64.501 reference. Added FCC 24-17 (AI-voice robocalls under TCPA) in force. Added NLRB Stericycle plus GC 25-05 (February 14, 2025) and GC 25-07 (June 26, 2025) workplace overlay. Added federal TAKE IT DOWN Act (Pub. L. 119-12, signed May 19, 2025; covered-platform notice-and-removal effective May 19, 2026). Added CPLR 4506 admissibility framework, Public Officers Law Article 7 Open Meetings Law, and 22 NYCRR section 29.1 trial-court recording rule for the courtroom-and-public-meetings section. Added section 50-a repeal context (Chapter 96 of the Laws of 2020, signed June 12, 2020) and FOIL access mechanism under Public Officers Law section 87. Added Executive Law section 234 state-trooper body-cam mandate and Executive Law section 75 LEMIO oversight. Removed off-topic /types-of-ankle-monitors internal cross-link. Replaced commercial-codifier and Justia URLs with nysenate.gov, nycourts.gov, ca2.uscourts.gov, ca11.uscourts.gov, uscode.house.gov, ecfr.gov, federalregister.gov, fcc.gov, nlrb.gov, ftc.gov, justice.gov, congress.gov, courtlistener.com (docket only), and legistar.council.nyc.gov primary sources.

Refresh: Added N.Y. Penal Law section 245.15 deepfake amendment via Hinchey S.1042-A, signed September 29, 2023 and effective approximately November 28, 2023 (60-day delay), with Civil Rights Law section 52-b parallel civil cause of action. Added N.Y. Civil Rights Law section 50-f digital-replica amendments signed December 11, 2025 (removing prior likelihood-of-deception requirement and disclaimer exemption). Added N.Y. Civil Rights Law section 79-p Right to Record Act (signed June 14, 2020; effective July 14, 2020) as the lead authority for recording New York police, ahead of any Second Circuit First Amendment doctrine. Added Reyes v. City of New York (2d Cir. June 18, 2025) procedural framing and certified statutory question pending in the New York Court of Appeals. Reframed S.5070 and S.5077 as pending only in the Senate Codes Committee, with multi-session reintroductions failing since 2018 (S.9173). Added N.Y. General Business Law section 399-z(2) telemarketing-disclosure carve-out disambiguation against the main one-party rule. Updated FCC 24-24 status to vacated (Insurance Marketing Coalition Ltd. v. FCC, 11th Cir. Jan. 24, 2025; mandate April 30, 2025; FCC formal final-rule elimination September 2025); removed stale 47 C.F.R. section 64.501 reference. Added FCC 24-17 (AI-voice robocalls under [TCPA](/us-laws/tcpa)) in force. Added NLRB Stericycle plus GC 25-05 (February 14, 2025) and GC 25-07 (June 25, 2025) workplace overlay. Added federal TAKE IT DOWN Act (Pub. L. 119-12, signed May 19, 2025; covered-platform notice-and-removal effective May 19, 2026). Added CPLR 4506 admissibility framework, Public Officers Law Article 7 Open Meetings Law, and 22 NYCRR section 29.1 trial-court recording rule for the courtroom-and-public-meetings section. Added section 50-a repeal context (Chapter 96 of the Laws of 2020, signed June 12, 2020) and FOIL access mechanism under Public Officers Law section 87. Added Executive Law section 234 state-trooper body-cam mandate and Executive Law section 75 LEMIO oversight. Removed off-topic /types-of-ankle-monitors internal cross-link. Replaced commercial-codifier and Justia URLs with nysenate.gov, nycourts.gov, ca2.uscourts.gov, ca11.uscourts.gov, uscode.house.gov, ecfr.gov, federalregister.gov, fcc.gov, nlrb.gov, ftc.gov, justice.gov, congress.gov, courtlistener.com (docket only), and legistar.council.nyc.gov primary sources.

Added wearable recording device guidance covering AI voice recorders (Plaud), smart glasses (Meta Ray-Bans), and New York employer notification requirements under CVR \u00a7 52-c.

Sources and References

  1. nysenate.gov.gov
  2. nysenate.gov.gov
  3. nysenate.gov.gov
  4. nysenate.gov.gov
  5. nysenate.gov.gov
  6. nysenate.gov.gov
  7. nysenate.gov.gov
  8. nysenate.gov.gov
  9. nysenate.gov.gov
  10. nysenate.gov.gov
  11. nysenate.gov.gov
  12. nysenate.gov.gov
  13. nysenate.gov.gov
  14. nysenate.gov.gov
  15. NYC Administrative Code Title 14 (Police) - American Legal Publishing code library(codelibrary.amlegal.com)
  16. nysenate.gov.gov
  17. nysenate.gov.gov
  18. nysenate.gov.gov
  19. courtlistener.com
  20. courtlistener.com
  21. nycourts.gov.gov
  22. nysenate.gov.gov
  23. nysenate.gov.gov
  24. nycourts.gov.gov
  25. nysenate.gov.gov
  26. nysenate.gov.gov
  27. uscode.house.gov.gov
  28. uscode.house.gov.gov
  29. docs.fcc.gov.gov
  30. ca11.uscourts.gov.gov
  31. federalregister.gov.gov
  32. justice.gov.gov
  33. uscode.house.gov.gov
  34. congress.gov.gov
  35. nlrb.gov.gov
  36. nlrb.gov.gov
  37. nlrb.gov.gov
  38. ftc.gov.gov
  39. ecfr.gov.gov
  40. ecfr.gov.gov
  41. nysenate.gov.gov
  42. nysenate.gov.gov
  43. nysenate.gov.gov
  44. courtlistener.com
  45. nycourts.gov.gov
  46. N.Y. S3253A (2019-2020), Right to Record Act, signed June 14, 2020 as Chapter 100 of the Laws of 2020; effective on the thirtieth day after becoming law(nysenate.gov)
Share: