The short answer
Whether you can record a call without asking depends on where the people are, not what app you used. The U.S. federal floor is one-party consent (18 U.S.C. § 2511): one person on the call (you) can consent. But about a dozen states require all-party (two-party) consent, meaning *everyone* must agree, and California's CIPA makes a violation both a crime and a civil claim. Crucially, these rules apply to Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams recordings exactly like phone calls. Recording the conversation is what's regulated, not the wire it traveled on.
Picture two glasses of water. In a one-party state, you can record a conversation as long as *one* glass (you) says “okay.” In a two-party (all-party) state, *every* glass at the table has to say “okay” first. The moment one person on the call is sitting in a two-party state, the stricter rule can apply to the whole call. That's why the safe, universal habit is simply: tell everyone the call is being recorded, at the start.
It's the conversation, not the channel
This is the single most expensive misconception in the space: teams assume “recording compliance” is something their phone vendor handles. It isn't. A Zoom sales demo, a Google Meet support session, a Teams interview, and a phone call are all the same thing to the law: a recorded conversation. An AI notetaker silently joining a Meet in a two-party-consent state is the same legal event as secretly taping a phone call.
Any conversation
One compliant record
- PASS / WARN / FAIL verdict
- Findings that cite the rule
- Auto-redacted PII / PHI
- Tamper-evident audit trail
Trace runs over the conversation, not one provider's wire, so you keep your existing phone, meeting, and agent stack and add compliance as a layer on top.
The state map, simplified
Most U.S. states follow the one-party federal floor. A minority require all-party consent. The exact list shifts with case law, and some states treat in-person vs. electronic differently, so use this as orientation and confirm the current status for your states with counsel.
| Rule | Roughly who | What you must do |
|---|---|---|
| One-party consent | Federal floor + most states | You may record; you (one party) consent |
| All-party (two-party) consent | ~12 states incl. CA, FL, IL, MD, MA, PA, WA | Everyone must be told and agree |
| Mixed / context-specific | e.g. some states differ on in-person vs. phone | Treat as all-party to be safe |
The simple rule that keeps you safe everywhere
If you operate across states (and you do, the moment you take calls from anywhere), just disclose the recording to everyone at the start of every call. A clear 'this call is recorded' line satisfies the strictest states and is good practice in the rest.
Add AI and there's a second disclosure
When the caller is an AI agent, recording consent isn't the only disclosure in play. A growing set of state laws, led by California's B.O.T. Act, can require you to tell the person they're talking to a bot. So an AI call may owe two disclosures: “you're being recorded” and “you're speaking with an AI.” Both are short scripts; the hard part is verifying they were actually said on every call.
How to prove the disclosure happened
Saying the line in your script is not the same as proving it was said on call #57,213. If you can't show it, it didn't happen. Trace scans every recording (phone, Zoom, Meet, or Teams) and verifies the recording disclosure (and, for AI calls, the bot disclosure) was actually present, flags the ones that missed it, redacts sensitive data captured in the transcript, and stamps each call with a tamper-evident hash. That's the difference between hoping you disclosed and being able to show it.
Two calls reviewed by hand. The violation is almost certainly in the 98 nobody listened to.
Every call scored against your rule packs, automatically, the moment it ends. Nothing hides.
Primary sources
We cite the statute or ruling so you can verify every claim. Status changes, confirm currency with counsel.
Frequently asked questions
Do call recording laws apply to Zoom and Google Meet?
Yes. Recording-consent laws regulate the conversation, not the transport, so Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams recordings are treated like phone-call recordings. If anyone on the call is in an all-party-consent state, you generally must disclose and get agreement.
What's the difference between one-party and two-party consent?
One-party consent (the federal floor and most states) means one participant can consent to recording. Two-party / all-party consent (about a dozen states, including California) means everyone on the call must be informed and agree.
What's the safest way to handle recording across states?
Disclose at the start of every call that it's being recorded. A clear recording notice satisfies the strictest all-party states and is good practice everywhere, so you don't have to track each participant's location in real time.
Does an AI agent need an extra disclosure beyond recording consent?
Often yes. State bot-disclosure laws like California's B.O.T. Act can require telling the person they're interacting with an AI, so an AI call may owe both a recording disclosure and a bot disclosure.