Recording consent law in New Hampshire
New Hampshire requires everyone's consent, and treats unlawful recording as a felony rather than a misdemeanor.
General information, not legal advice. Recording law turns on facts — where each person physically is, whether the exchange counts as oral or electronic, and what your profession separately requires. If the answer matters, ask a lawyer licensed in New Hampshire.
Short answer: New Hampshire (RSA 570-A:2) requires the consent of all parties to record an oral or electronic communication. A violation is a Class B felony, and RSA 570-A:11 gives the recorded person statutory damages.
At a glance
| Statute | RSA 570-A:2 (recording); 570-A:11 (civil action) |
|---|---|
| Applies to | Both in-person and telecommunication / electronic communications |
| Criminal penalty | Class B felony for recording without all-party consent. Secondary sources report up to 7 years and a fine up to $4,000. |
| Civil liability | Yes, under RSA 570-A:11 — the greater of actual damages or $100 per day of violation (minimum $1,000), plus punitive damages and attorney's fees. |
The detail that catches people out
New Hampshire is one of the stricter states in classification terms: recording without all-party consent is a felony, not a misdemeanor.
Courts recognise a narrow “implicit consent” idea for text-based media like email and instant messages, where recording is inherent in reading them, and good-faith reliance on a court order is a complete defence. Neither helps with a spoken conversation — for those, get everyone's agreement.
What this means for AI meeting notes
In New Hampshire the stakes are a felony, so there's no room for casual recording of a private conversation. All-party consent, made explicit on the record, is the only safe course.
Two things worth separating. Whether a recording bot is visible in the attendee list has no bearing on any of the above — the statute governs the recording, not how obvious your tooling is. And where the recording is processed is a different question again: New Hampshire law decides whether you may record at all, while your duty of confidentiality decides who may then receive it.
A tool that captures audio through your own machine and processes it locally, like Oats, removes the second problem and leaves the first entirely intact. You still need whatever consent New Hampshire requires.
If people are in different states
A call with someone in a one-party-consent state and someone in New Hampshire is not a one-party call. Standard conservative practice is to comply with the strictest rule represented on the call — get everyone's agreement, out loud, and note that you got it. See our overview of US recording consent law for the wider picture and the other all-party states.
Sources: RSA 570-A:2. RSA 570-A:11 civil action. RCFP — New Hampshire. Verified July 2026. Laws change — check the primary source before relying on this.
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