Arkansas Recording Laws (2026): One-Party Consent Rules

Arkansas is a one-party consent state. Under Ark. Code Ann. § 5-60-120(a), any participant in a wire, landline, oral, telephonic, or wireless communication may record it without telling the other party. Recording a conversation without being a participant and without any party's consent is a Class A misdemeanor under § 5-60-120(b), punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine, plus potential federal civil liability.

Arkansas recording law at a glance

For statutes, penalties, and court decisions in depth, see the Arkansas recording laws in-depth section below.

Recording in-person conversations in Arkansas

Arkansas's consent rule for face-to-face conversations runs through the "oral communication" category of Ark. Code Ann. § 5-60-120(a). An oral communication is a spoken conversation in which the speakers reasonably expect that no one outside the conversation will overhear.

If you are part of the conversation, you can record it without informing anyone else. If you are not, you need at least one participant's prior consent. Planting a hidden audio device to capture a conversation between people who did not consent is the textbook § 5-60-120 violation. An employee recording a one-on-one meeting with a manager is lawful; a neighbor planting a microphone next door is a Class A misdemeanor.

Note that § 5-60-120 is an audio statute. Silent video recording in a public space with no reasonable expectation of privacy is not governed by this section. Video recording in private spaces that captures intimate areas falls under the separate voyeurism statute at § 5-16-101, discussed below.

Recording phone calls in Arkansas

Section 5-60-120 covers landline, telephonic (including VoIP), and wireless calls. As a participant, you can record any call you are part of without disclosing it. The rule covers landline, cell, VoIP (Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, FaceTime), conference calls, and push-to-talk messages when you are the sender or recipient.

For more detail on call-specific rules, see Arkansas Phone Call Recording Laws.

Interstate calls: use the stricter state's rule

Federal ECPA at 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d) is a floor, not a ceiling. When an Arkansas caller is on the line with someone in an all-party consent state, the more protective state's rule can apply from that end of the call.

States that require all-party consent for at least some recording contexts include California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington. When calling someone in those states, disclose at the start and get consent from every party. A brief "this call may be recorded" announcement avoids civil and criminal exposure in the other state.

Hidden cameras, doorbells, and nanny cams

Ark. Code Ann. § 5-16-101 (video voyeurism) prohibits secretly observing, photographing, filming, or videotaping a person in a residence, school, place of business, or other structure when (1) the person is in a private area out of public view, (2) the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, and (3) the person has not consented. All three elements must be present.

Bathrooms, locker rooms, fitting rooms, exam rooms, and guest bedrooms are the clearest cases. A common open workspace, a public lobby, or a store's retail floor typically does not satisfy the "private area out of public view" element.

A first or second offense under § 5-16-101 is a Class D felony: up to 6 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000. A third or subsequent offense is a Class C felony: 3 to 10 years. These grades are far harsher than the audio-only Class A misdemeanor under § 5-60-120.

Ring doorbells and exterior cameras pointed at a sidewalk, driveway, or porch are generally lawful because the targeted area is not a "private area out of public view." Audio capture from the same device is still governed by § 5-60-120: recording conversations of guests or service workers without any party's consent can be a § 5-60-120 violation.

For camera-specific rules, see Arkansas Security Camera Laws and Arkansas Voyeurism Laws.

Penalties for illegal recording in Arkansas

Arkansas's recording-law penalties split across several statutes depending on what was recorded and how.

Sentencing anchors: Class A misdemeanor penalties are set by Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-401(b)(1) (up to 1 year) and § 5-4-201(b)(1) (fine up to $2,500). Class D felony is set by § 5-4-401(a)(5) (up to 6 years) and § 5-4-201(a)(2) (fine up to $10,000). Class C felony is set by § 5-4-401(a)(4) (3 to 10 years).

The Harassment Backstop

Ark. Code Ann. § 5-71-209 (harassment) serves as a catch-all for non-sexual surreptitious or repeated video surveillance that does not fit the voyeurism statute. Section 5-60-120(b) reaches audio only. Section 5-16-101 reaches video only where nudity or a private body area is captured in a place with a reasonable expectation of privacy. Non-sexual surreptitious video in a private setting (a hidden camera in a hallway or office, for example) does not always fit either statute. Section 5-71-209 fills that gap when the recording is repeated, unwanted, serves no legitimate purpose, and is intended to harass, annoy, or alarm. The offense is a Class A misdemeanor, matching the audio penalty tier. Together with common-law intrusion upon seclusion under Dunlap v. McCarty, § 5-71-209 covers the non-sexual surreptitious-video gap when the conduct is targeted and repeated.

Civil liability

Arkansas's eavesdropping chapter (Chapter 60) contains no civil damages provision. Section 5-60-120 is criminal-only: no statutory damages floor, no attorney-fee provision, and no private right of action at the state level.

Plaintiffs harmed by illegal recording have three routes. First, federal ECPA at 18 U.S.C. § 2520 provides statutory damages of $100 per day or $10,000, whichever is greater, plus actual damages, punitive damages, and attorney fees. Second, Arkansas common-law invasion of privacy under Dunlap v. McCarty, 284 Ark. 5, 678 S.W.2d 361 (1984) provides an intrusion-upon-seclusion claim. Third, the new Ark. Code Ann. § 16-118-119 (Act 827 of 2025) provides a civil cause of action for synthetic intimate imagery, with actual, compensatory, and punitive damages plus injunctive relief and attorney fees.

Recording the police in Arkansas

Arkansas sits in the Eighth Circuit, which covers Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The 8th Circuit's posture on civilian recording of on-duty police is more restrictive than most other federal circuits.

In Molina v. City of St. Louis, 59 F.4th 334 (8th Cir. 2023), reh'g en banc denied, 65 F.4th 994 (8th Cir. 2023), cert. denied sub nom. Molina v. Book, 144 S. Ct. 558 (2024), the court held that observing and recording police was not clearly established as a First Amendment right in the circuit, and granted officers qualified immunity. That is a stronger negative position than circuits that simply have not addressed the question.

Earlier, Chestnut v. Wallace, 947 F.3d 1085 (8th Cir. 2020), recognized a clearly established right to observe police-citizen interactions at a distance, a narrower proposition than a stand-alone right to record. Robbins v. City of Des Moines, 984 F.3d 673 (8th Cir. 2021), granted qualified immunity on First Amendment claims while reversing it on Fourth Amendment seizure grounds.

Practical guidance: stand at a reasonable distance, do not interfere with an active scene, comply with lawful step-back orders, avoid trespass, and pair any First Amendment claim with a Fourth Amendment claim where the facts support it. The Fourth Amendment lane (unlawful seizure of equipment, false arrest) has fared better in 8th Circuit cases.

For a deeper treatment, see Arkansas Laws on Recording Police.

Special topics in Arkansas

Public meetings and the Arkansas FOIA

Arkansas expressly codifies the right to record open public meetings. Ark. Code Ann. § 25-19-106 (the Sunshine Law) requires meetings of municipalities, counties, school districts, and state boards supported wholly or partly by public funds to be open, and Act 310 of 2021 (SB 194) amended the FOIA "copy" definition to include image capture, still and moving photography, and video and digital recording. Public bodies must retain a recording of each open meeting for at least one year under § 25-19-106(c)(2). Ark. Code Ann. § 25-19-107 supplies enforcement: mandamus, injunctive relief, fee-shifting, and a Class C misdemeanor for negligent denial (up to 30 days and a $500 fine).

Workplace recording and NLRA

Arkansas is one-party consent for workplace audio: an employee can record any conversation they participate in, including one-on-ones with managers, HR meetings, performance reviews, and disciplinary interviews. Private-sector employers covered by the National Labor Relations Act must evaluate no-recording handbook rules under Stericycle, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 113 (Aug. 2, 2023), where a blanket no-recording rule is presumptively unlawful under Section 8(a)(1) unless the employer shows a substantial business interest achievable by no narrower rule. NLRB GC 25-05 (Feb. 14, 2025) rescinded certain General Counsel memoranda but did not overrule Stericycle, and NLRB GC 25-07 (June 25, 2025) added a narrow per se bar on surreptitious recording of collective-bargaining sessions. See Arkansas Workplace Recording Laws for the full analysis.

Deepfake and synthetic intimate imagery

Act 827 of 2025 (signed April 17, 2025) created two linked statutes. Ark. Code Ann. § 5-14-139 criminalizes unlawful creation or distribution of deepfake visual material of a sexual nature without the depicted person's consent (Class A misdemeanor first offense, Class D felony second or subsequent), and Ark. Code Ann. § 16-118-119 establishes a civil cause of action for actual, compensatory, and punitive damages plus injunctive relief and attorney fees. The separate Ark. Code Ann. § 5-26-314 (Act 304 of 2015) covers non-consensual distribution of real sexual images but requires a harassment purpose and a relationship between actor and victim; it does not reach AI-generated synthetic material, which § 5-14-139 covers.

Federal overlays

18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d) sets a one-party consent floor that Arkansas's § 5-60-120 matches. The TAKE IT DOWN Act (Pub. L. No. 119-12, signed May 19, 2025) criminalizes knowing publication of non-consensual intimate imagery including AI deepfakes and requires covered platforms to remove flagged content within 48 hours (compliance deadline May 19, 2026). Body-worn camera footage is governed by Ark. Code Ann. § 12-6-701 and is presumptively a public record under FOIA, with a narrow exemption for officer-death footage; Arkansas has no statewide body-cam mandate (HB 1219 of the 2025 session was withdrawn by the author February 6, 2025).

Recent legal developments

• April 17, 2025: Governor Sanders signed HB 1529 / Act 827 of 2025, creating the deepfake criminal offense at Ark. Code Ann. § 5-14-139 and the civil cause of action at § 16-118-119. Effective on the general 90-day-after-sine-die schedule.
• May 19, 2025: President Trump signed the federal TAKE IT DOWN Act (Pub. L. No. 119-12), adding a federal criminal hook and 48-hour platform-takedown duty. Platform-compliance deadline: May 19, 2026.
• April 30, 2025: The Eleventh Circuit's mandate in Insurance Marketing Coalition Ltd. v. FCC, 127 F.4th 303 (11th Cir. 2025), vacated the FCC one-to-one consent rule (FCC 23-107 / 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(10)).
• January 15, 2024: U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Molina v. Book, 144 S. Ct. 558 (2024), leaving the 8th Circuit's "not clearly established" ruling on recording police as final binding precedent.
• February 6, 2025: HB 1219 (statewide body-worn camera mandate) was withdrawn by the author and did not become law. Body-cam adoption in Arkansas remains agency-by-agency.

Arkansas recording laws in depth

The pages below each cover a specific recording context in greater depth than this hub can.

By type of recording

• Arkansas Audio Recording Laws: One-Party Consent Rules and Penalties (2026)
• Arkansas Video Recording Laws: Public Filming, Private Property, and Consent (2026)
• Arkansas Phone Call Recording Laws: Landline, Cell, and VoIP Rules (2026)
• Arkansas Voyeurism Laws: Hidden Cameras, Penalties, and Defenses (2026)
• Arkansas Dashcam Laws: Mounting, Audio, and Legal Uses (2026)

By place or relationship

• Arkansas Laws on Recording Police: Your Rights and Limits (2026)
• Arkansas Workplace Recording Laws: Employee and Employer Rights (2026)
• Arkansas Laws on Recording in Public: Your Complete Guide (2026)
• Arkansas Security Camera Laws: Home, Business, and HOA Rules (2026)
• Arkansas Landlord-Tenant Recording Laws: Cameras, Audio, and Privacy Rights (2026)
• Arkansas Medical Recording Laws: Patient Rights, HIPAA, and One-Party Consent (2026)
• Arkansas School Recording Laws: Student Privacy, FERPA, and Classroom Rules (2026)

More Arkansas laws

• Arkansas Alimony Laws
• Arkansas At-Will Employment Laws
• Arkansas Data Privacy Laws
• Arkansas Divorce Laws
• Arkansas Expungement Laws

This article is general legal information, not legal advice. Recording laws change and apply differently to each situation. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed Arkansas attorney.

More Arkansas Laws

• Arkansas AI Meeting Recording Laws
• Arkansas Alimony Laws
• Arkansas At-Will Employment Laws
• Arkansas Car Accident Laws
• Arkansas Car Seat Laws
• Arkansas Child Custody Laws
• Arkansas Child Support Laws
• Arkansas Common Law Marriage Laws
• Arkansas Data Privacy Laws
• Arkansas Deepfake Laws
• Arkansas Divorce Laws
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• Arkansas Emancipation Laws
• Arkansas Expungement Laws
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