Is It Legal To Secretly Record A Conversation in New Jersey?
We all have seen those videos on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, etc, of the random argument videos that people record and upload. Does anyone else get secondhand embarrassment for the people who cause a scene in these videos?
In certain situations, recording an encounter with someone is completely necessary to protect yourself and keep yourself safe. Although we see them constantly on the internet, am I the only person who’s wondering if it’s legal to record anyone you get into a verbal or physical altercation with?
Sometimes I think to myself, there’s no way someone can just record anyone they want at any time and have full rights to the video and be able to post it online legally. I had to do some digging to make sure that if I ever encountered a ‘Karen’ out in the wild, I would be allowed to record the conversation in case anything legal ever came out of it.
In New Jersey, we have something called the “one-party consent law” that basically states as long as one person involved in the recording gives permission.
So, it is fully legal to record conversations in New Jersey with the consent of at least one person within the conversation.
Within the law, the “one party” that can give consent to recording a conversation can be yourself. After thinking about this, it’s kind of scary to think about how many conversations you’ve been in that could’ve been recorded without you even knowing about it.
On the bright side, it makes it easy to keep yourself safe by recording heated conversations you may have in life that can be turned into legal matters. Stay safe out there, NJ!
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