# All-party consent vs. one-party consent **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 27, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-party-consent-vs-one-party-consent/689396 "2014-05-27T18:44:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reyemile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@Reyemile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reyemile)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-party-consent-vs-one-party-consent/689396/1 "2014-05-27T18:44:58Z")
I’ve been looking up rules on recording conversations, and the US states seem split on whether it should be legal for one party to secretly record a conversation that he’s part of, or whether all parties need to be informed of and consent to a recording. What are the pros and cons of these two models, from a moral, ethical, and practical standpoint? If you were to build a new state/country from scratch, which model would you chose? ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-party-consent-vs-one-party-consent/689396/2 "2014-05-27T19:08:55Z")
Just for clarification, only 12 states require all parties to consent: California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii (in general a one-party state, but requires two-party consent if the recording device is installed in a private place), Illinois (debated), Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana (requires notification only), Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington. [Cite.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_recording_laws) I personally don’t see any cons unless you’ve said something you’d rather not have a record of and you weren’t the one making the recording. I certainly wouldn’t have any ethical or moral qualms recording a conversation if I felt I would need corroboration later.