Recording consent law in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania requires everyone's consent, and its Wiretap Act carries some of the heaviest penalties on this list — up to 7 years.
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 Pennsylvania.
Short answer: Pennsylvania's Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act (18 Pa.C.S. § 5703) requires the consent of all parties to record wire, electronic, or oral communications. A violation is a third-degree felony, and § 5725 provides statutory civil damages.
At a glance
| Statute | 18 Pa.C.S. § 5703 (offense); § 5704 (consent); § 5725 (civil action) |
|---|---|
| Applies to | Both in-person and wire / electronic communications |
| Criminal penalty | Third-degree felony — up to 7 years imprisonment and a fine up to $15,000. |
| Civil liability | Yes, under § 5725 — actual damages, not less than $100 per day of violation or $1,000, whichever is higher, plus punitive damages and attorney's fees. |
The detail that catches people out
Pennsylvania's Wiretap Act protects a communication where a party has a justifiable expectation that it isn't being intercepted — tied by the courts to a reasonable expectation of privacy (Commonwealth v. Agnew, 1998).
The penalties are among the steepest of any all-party state: a third-degree felony, up to seven years, and a $15,000 fine. Pennsylvania is a common trap for businesses running recorded phone lines, because the all-party rule applies to routine calls, not just covert surveillance.
What this means for AI meeting notes
Pennsylvania's combination of an all-party rule and a seven-year felony makes it one of the states where getting consent is least optional. Announce recording and capture agreement on every call that touches the state.
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: Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania requires.
If people are in different states
A call with someone in a one-party-consent state and someone in Pennsylvania 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: 18 Pa.C.S. § 5703. § 5725 civil action. PA Legislature — Chapter 57. Verified July 2026. Laws change — check the primary source before relying on this.
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