Minnesota: Call and Conversation Recording Consent Requirements

Requirements one by one

Governing law and covered recording

Minn. Stat. § 626A.02, subd. 1, prohibits intentional interception and the intentional use or disclosure of contents known or reasonably known to come from an unlawful interception. Section 626A.01, subd. 5, defines interception as acquiring contents through an electronic, mechanical, or other device.

Whose consent a participant needs

Minnesota's private-person exemption is explicit: interception is lawful when the recorder “is a party to the communication” or one party gave prior consent (§ 626A.02, subd. 2(d)). A participant therefore need not obtain every other person's agreement, but the exemption is unavailable for a criminal or tortious purpose.

Privacy, confidentiality, or secrecy trigger

For face-to-face speech, § 626A.01, subd. 4, protects an oral communication only when the speaker exhibits an expectation against interception “under circumstances justifying such expectation.” The wire and electronic definitions do not contain that expectation element.

Telephone, in-person, and electronic coverage

A voice transfer carried partly through wire or cable facilities is a wire communication, including its electronic storage (§ 626A.01, subd. 3). Electronic communications include transmitted sounds and data but exclude wire and oral communications (subd. 14). In-person speech is covered when it meets the protected-oral definition. The chapter also has a narrow exception for an inadvertently obtained cordless handset-to-base radio interception (§ 626A.02, subd. 2(g)).

How consent or notice is given

Being a party is independently sufficient. If the recorder is not a party, one party must give prior consent. Section 626A.02, subd. 2(d), does not prescribe a writing, spoken script, warning tone, or specific recording announcement.

Major participant-facing exceptions

The private one-party permission does not apply when the interception's purpose is criminal or tortious. Other express exceptions cover public-access electronic and radio communications, harmful-interference tracing, same-frequency users of an unscrambled system, provider operations, and the narrow inadvertent cordless-radio situation (§ 626A.02, subd. 2).

Criminal classification and penalty

The standard violation carries up to five years' imprisonment, a $20,000 fine, or both (§ 626A.02, subd. 4(a)). Minnesota defines a felony as a crime for which one year or more may be imposed (§ 609.02, subd. 2), so this standard offense is a felony. Lower penalties in subd. 4(b) concern narrow first-offense unscrambled-radio conduct, not an ordinary private call.

Civil remedy and evidence effect

Minn. Stat. § 626A.13 provides equitable or declaratory relief, punitive damages in appropriate cases, reasonable fees and costs, and—outside narrow radio/satellite cases—the greater of treble actual damages plus violator profits or statutory damages of $100 per day or $10,000. The claim must begin within two years after the claimant first has a reasonable opportunity to discover the violation.

Section 626A.04 separately bars intercepted contents and derivative evidence from a court or grand jury proceeding when disclosure would violate the chapter. A lawful one-party recording does not trigger that exclusion merely because the other participants were unaware.

Interstate and federal boundary

Federal § 2511(2)(d) and Minnesota § 626A.02, subd. 2(d), use nearly parallel private one-party and prohibited-purpose language. Minnesota still supplies its own damages, limitations, and evidence rules. Neither statute decides choice of law for a multistate call; consent from everyone is the prudent operational baseline.

What trips people up

The privacy expectation applies to in-person speech, not as an extra element for calls. The qualifier appears in the “oral communication” definition; the statutory wire definition has no equivalent wording.

The civil formula is stronger than simple actual damages. For the ordinary violation, a court may use treble actual damages plus profits or the $100-per-day/$10,000 statutory measure, whichever is greater.

The two-year clock is discovery based. Section 626A.13, subd. 5, runs from the claimant's first reasonable opportunity to discover the violation, not automatically from the recording date.

Common questions

Can someone who is not on the call record it if one participant agrees? Yes under § 626A.02, subd. 2(d), if one party gave prior consent and the recording is not for a criminal or tortious purpose.

May I disclose a recording that was illegally made by someone else? Section 626A.02, subd. 1(3), separately prohibits intentional disclosure when you know or have reason to know the contents came from an interception violating that subdivision.

Statutes and sources

• Minn. Stat. § 626A.01 — definitions of wire, oral, electronic, device, and intercept. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/626A.01 (accessed 2026-07-20)
• Minn. Stat. § 626A.02 — offense, exemptions, and penalties. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/626A.02 (accessed 2026-07-20)
• Minn. Stat. § 609.02 — felony definition. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/609.02 (accessed 2026-07-20)
• Minn. Stat. § 626A.13 — civil remedies, defenses, and limitations period. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/626A.13 (accessed 2026-07-20)
• Minn. Stat. § 626A.04 — evidence exclusion. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/626A.04 (accessed 2026-07-20)
• 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d) — federal private-participant rule. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title18-section2511&num=0&edition=prelim (accessed 2026-07-20)