Hawaii: Call and Conversation Recording Consent Requirements

Requirements one by one

Governing law and covered recording

Hawaii splits this question across two statutes. The everyday recording rule lives in the electronic eavesdropping law, Haw. Rev. Stat. chapter 803, part IV, where § 803-42 defines the offenses and § 803-48 the civil claim. A second, older privacy crime — violation of privacy in the second degree, § 711-1111 — governs hidden devices used to capture sounds inside a private place, and it applies a stricter consent rule than the eavesdropping law.

Whose consent a participant needs

Under the eavesdropping law, one party's consent is enough. Section 803-42(b)(3)(A) makes it lawful for a person "not acting under color of law" to intercept a communication "when the person is a party to the communication or when one of the parties to the communication has given prior consent." Your own participation supplies that consent, so you may record a call or conversation you are part of — subject to the criminal-or-tortious-purpose limit and the private-place rule discussed below.

Privacy, confidentiality, or secrecy trigger

The eavesdropping law protects an in-person "oral communication" only when it is "uttered by a person exhibiting an expectation that the utterance is not subject to interception under circumstances justifying that expectation" (§ 803-41). A wire communication carries no such qualifier. The privacy statute works differently: § 711-1111 protects a "private place" as a location, so a hidden device capturing sounds there can be a crime regardless of whether any particular speaker had a protected expectation.

Telephone, in-person, and electronic coverage

The one-party rule is the same for telephone and face-to-face audio. Hawaii's definition of "wire communication" expressly includes "cellular telephones, cordless telephones, [and] 'tone and voice' pagers" (§ 803-41), so modern phone calls are squarely covered. Face-to-face speech is an "oral communication," and other transfers are "electronic communications." Text messages and stored data raise separate questions and should not be assumed to follow the audio rule.

How consent or notice is given

Being a participant is the lawful basis; if you are not, one actual party must give prior consent (§ 803-42(b)(3)(A)). Hawaii prescribes no particular form — no writing, spoken script, tone, or announcement is required. Where a court order is involved, good-faith reliance on it is a complete defense to prosecution (§ 803-42(b)(9)).

Major participant-facing exceptions

The eavesdropping law's carve-outs are largely systemic: provider operations necessary to render service or protect the carrier (§ 803-42(b)(1)), publicly accessible and listed radio communications (§ 803-42(b)(7)), and court-ordered interceptions (§ 803-42(b)(5)). The privacy statute adds one that ordinary people rely on: § 711-1111(1)(d) expressly permits recording a law enforcement officer performing public duties where the officer has no reasonable expectation of privacy.

Criminal classification and penalty

An unlawful interception, disclosure, or use under the eavesdropping law is a class C felony (§ 803-42(a)). A class C felony carries up to five years' imprisonment (§ 706-660) and a fine up to $10,000 (§ 706-640). Recording in violation of the private-place privacy rule is a lesser offense — violation of privacy in the second degree is a misdemeanor, and the court "may order the destruction of any recording made in violation of this section" (§ 711-1111(4)).

Civil remedy and evidence effect

Section 803-48 gives a person whose communication is unlawfully accessed, intercepted, disclosed, or used a civil claim for the greater of actual damages plus the violator's profits or statutory damages of $100 per day or $10,000, plus punitive damages where appropriate and reasonable attorney's fees; good-faith reliance on a court order is a complete defense. On evidence, a recording you lawfully make as a participant is not an unlawful interception. For an unlawful private-place recording, the court may order it destroyed (§ 711-1111(4)), which is a practical bar to using it.

Interstate and federal boundary

Hawaii's one-party eavesdropping rule matches federal law, which permits a participant, or a person with one party's prior consent, to record unless the purpose is to commit a criminal or tortious act (18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d)). That agreement does not settle an interstate call. If the other participant is in an all-party state, that state's stricter law may govern the recording made there, so getting everyone's consent is the safe course when a call crosses state lines.

What trips people up

Being in the room does not clear a hidden in-place recording. The Hawaii Supreme Court has said the eavesdropping law "does not permit bugging of a private place unless the parties entitled to privacy consent." Section 711-1111 makes installing or using a concealed device to capture sounds inside a private place a crime without the consent of everyone entitled to privacy there — a stricter rule than the one-party telephone standard.

The one-party rule falls away for a criminal or tortious purpose. Section 803-42(b)(3)(A) withdraws the participant exception when the recording is made "for the purpose of committing any criminal or tortious act." Recording your own call is lawful; recording it to extort, defraud, or otherwise commit a wrong is not.

A "private place" is about the location, not the speaker. Because § 711-1111 protects a place, a recording can be unlawful even if the specific person recorded had no strong privacy expectation, as long as the place is one where people reasonably expect to be free from surveillance.

Common questions

Do I have to announce that I am recording my own phone call? No. As a participant you are the one consenting party the eavesdropping law requires, and no notice or tone is prescribed (§ 803-42(b)(3)(A)).

Can I hide a recorder in a room to catch a conversation later? Be careful. If the room is a private place and you use a concealed device to capture sounds there without the consent of everyone entitled to privacy, that can be violation of privacy in the second degree (§ 711-1111), even though a call you personally join would be one-party.

Can I record police officers doing their job? Yes. Section 711-1111(1)(d) expressly allows recording a law enforcement officer in the performance of duties in public or where the officer has no reasonable expectation of privacy, so long as you do not interfere with their duties.

Statutes and sources

• Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 803, part IV — electronic eavesdropping; § 803-42 lists the offenses, the one-party exception, and the class C felony grade. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0803/HRS_0803-0042.htm (accessed 2026-07-20)
• Haw. Rev. Stat. § 803-41 — definitions of oral and wire communication (wire includes cellular and cordless). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0803/HRS_0803-0041.htm (accessed 2026-07-20)
• Haw. Rev. Stat. § 803-48 — civil damages, fees, and defenses. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0803/HRS_0803-0048.htm (accessed 2026-07-20)
• Haw. Rev. Stat. § 711-1111 — violation of privacy in the second degree; private-place recording and destruction remedy. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0711/HRS_0711-1111.htm (accessed 2026-07-20)
• Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 706-660, 706-640 — class C felony imprisonment and fine limits. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0706/HRS_0706-0660.htm (accessed 2026-07-20)
• 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d) — federal one-party consent rule. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title18-section2511&num=0&edition=prelim (accessed 2026-07-20)