Recording calls legally: telling the other person, and one-party vs all-party consent

Not legal advice

Recording and publishing are two different questions

Whether you may record a conversation, and whether you may publish that recording, are separate questions. A recording that was fine to make for your own notes can still be unlawful or unfair to post. For creators this second question matters most, because the whole point is to share a clip.

That is also why a clip of only your own side is the simplest case: it publishes your face and your words. The moment you include the other person, you need their agreement.

One-party vs all-party consent

• One-party consent: a person taking part in a conversation may record it without the others’ agreement. Your own consent is the “one party”.
• All-party consent (sometimes “two-party”): everyone in the conversation must agree to the recording.

When people are in different places, more than one set of rules may apply. The practical answer is the same everywhere: tell everyone and get agreement, which satisfies the stricter standard.

United Kingdom

As a general rule, a private individual recording a conversation they take part in, for their own use, is not a criminal offence in the UK. Using the recording is where the questions start. Once a recording is used beyond purely personal purposes, for example published, UK data protection law can apply, and publishing private conversations can also raise misuse of private information or confidentiality. Businesses that record calls must tell people and have a lawful basis.

European Union

Rules vary by country, and some are strict. In Germany, recording words spoken in private without consent can be a criminal offence under section 201 of the Criminal Code. In France, recording private words without consent is also an offence under the Penal Code (article 226-1).

Across the EU, the GDPR’s exemption for purely personal or household activity stops applying when you publish. In the Buivids case (2019), the EU Court of Justice treated a video published online as outside that exemption. Publishing someone’s image can also engage separate image rights, such as Germany’s rules on the right to one’s own picture.

United States

Federal law generally allows one-party consent. Most states follow that, but roughly a dozen require all-party consent in at least some situations, including California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Washington. The exact list depends on how you count, because some states treat phone calls and in-person conversations differently.

For calls between states, courts have sometimes applied the stricter state’s rule. Publishing someone’s likeness for commercial purposes can also raise right-of-publicity claims.

Everywhere else

Many countries have their own rules, and some differ by state or province. If either person is outside the places above, look up the current rules for both locations.

A simple, respectful routine

1. At the start, say that you are recording and what for, for example: “I’m recording my side so I can make a short clip of my answers.”
2. Get their agreement out loud, so it is on the recording, or in writing.
3. Keep to what you said. If you only said your side, publish only your side.
4. Ask separately, and clearly, before publishing anything that shows or quotes them.
5. Offer them a copy, and honour a request to remove something.

How playbakk is designed around consent

playbakk starts in Me only, so by default your clip contains just you. It asks you to tell the other person, and to wear headphones so their voice does not leak into your microphone. To include them, you send a consent link; they open it in their browser, with no account, and choose what they agree to. Until then, playbakk keeps to you only. Everything is reviewed before export, and nothing is posted for you.

playbakk is for recording openly. It is not built or offered for covert recording.