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

Wyoming is a one-party consent state under Wyo. Stat. 7-3-702(b)(iv). Any party to a wire, oral, or electronic communication may record it without telling the other participants, unless the recording is made to commit a criminal or tortious act. Illegal interception is a felony carrying up to 5 years imprisonment, and civil liability runs at least $1,000 per day of violation.

Wyoming recording law at a glance

For in-depth analysis of each topic, see the Wyoming recording laws in depth section below.

Recording in-person conversations in Wyoming

Wyoming's wiretap statute at Wyo. Stat. 7-3-702(a) prohibits intentionally intercepting, or attempting to intercept, any wire, oral, or electronic communication. The one-party consent exception at subsection (b)(iv) carves out any person who is a party to the communication, or who has the prior consent of at least one party, as long as the recording is not made for the purpose of committing any criminal or tortious act.

The "criminal or tortious purpose" proviso matters in practice. Recording a coworker to document harassment for an HR complaint is not a criminal or tortious act, so the defense applies. Recording the same coworker to extort them strips the defense entirely.

One important clarification: the one-party consent exception lives at section 7-3-702(b)(iv). Some outdated guides cite section 7-3-704 as the source. That is wrong. Section 7-3-704 is the device seizure-and-forfeiture procedure, not a consent provision.

Wyoming's structure tracks federal 18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(d) almost verbatim, and the Wyoming Supreme Court held in Almada v. State, 994 P.2d 299 (Wyo. 1999) that one-party consent is a complete defense to a wiretap charge, including in body-wire scenarios. The court also held that using a body-worn device with one party's consent does not violate Article I, Section 4 of the Wyoming Constitution.

Recording phone calls in Wyoming

The same one-party rule applies to phone calls, including landline, cellular, and VoIP. Wyoming Wyo. Stat. 7-3-702(b)(iv) covers "wire, oral, or electronic" communications without distinction, so a participant in the call may record it without notifying anyone else.

One wrinkle: Wyo. Stat. 7-3-702(f) creates a reduced misdemeanor tier (6 months, $750) specifically for unlawful interception of the radio portion of cellular telephone, cordless telephone, public land mobile radio service, or paging service communications. That reduced tier does not benefit a participant who lawfully records under (b)(iv); it reduces penalties for third-party interception of those legacy radio signals.

For interstate calls, Wyoming's one-party default does not override a stricter co-participant state. The most relevant border-state hazard is Montana, which prohibits recording by a hidden device without notice to all parties under Mont. Code Ann. 45-8-213. Wyoming's other five border states (Colorado, Idaho, Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah) are all one-party jurisdictions, so Montana is the principal cross-border concern. The conservative rule: if any participant is in a stricter state, comply with the stricter rule.

See also the Wyoming phone call recording laws sub-page.

Hidden cameras, doorbells, and nanny cams

Wyoming's voyeurism statute at Wyo. Stat. 6-4-304 creates three penalty tiers:

• Eye-only voyeurism (subsection a): Misdemeanor, up to 6 months and $750. Covers restrooms, baths, showers, dressing rooms, bedrooms, and under-clothing observation anywhere.
• Camera voyeurism (subsection b): Felony, up to 5 years and $5,000. Applies when the offense is committed by knowingly or intentionally capturing an image with a camera, video camera, or other image recording device, including livestreaming.
• Adult perpetrator, minor victim (subsection d): Felony, up to 10 years and $5,000, where the perpetrator is 18 or older and the victim is under 18.

The Wyoming Supreme Court interpreted the camera-felony tier in Kobielusz v. State, 2024 WY 10, No. S-23-0020 (Wyo. Jan. 24, 2024). Defendant installed hidden camera-equipped alarm clocks in restrooms and bedrooms in his home. The court held that the "looking" element in subsection (b)(i) is satisfied by the act of knowingly or intentionally capturing an image. The state does not have to prove the defendant ever viewed the stored footage. An automated camera on a memory card or in cloud storage triggers the felony tier even if the footage is never reviewed.

For audio: a camera that also records conversations may separately implicate Wyo. Stat. 7-3-702 if no participant has consented. A nanny cam in the common areas of your own home is generally lawful; a hidden camera in a guest bathroom or bedroom is a felony. A Ring doorbell at your own front door is generally lawful (the homeowner is a party to conversations at the door), and the FTC's 2023 settlement with Ring required affirmative express consent for any human review of footage.

See the Wyoming voyeurism laws and Wyoming security camera laws sub-pages for deeper coverage.

Penalties for illegal recording in Wyoming

Criminal penalties

Illegal interception under Wyo. Stat. 7-3-702(f) is a felony punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment and a fine of not more than $1,000, or both. The $1,000 felony fine cap is one of the lowest in the U.S. recording-law landscape. Wyoming weights the punishment toward the prison term, not the financial penalty.

A reduced misdemeanor tier (up to 6 months and $750) applies only when the intercepted communication is the radio portion of a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone (between handset and base), a public land mobile radio service, or a paging service.

Wyoming has no general criminal statute of limitations. Felonies and misdemeanors may be prosecuted at any time after commission, making Wyoming one of only two U.S. states without a general criminal limitations period.

Civil damages

Wyo. Stat. 7-3-710(a) provides:

• Actual damages, but not less than $1,000 per day for each day of violation
• Punitive damages
• Reasonable attorney fees and other litigation costs

The $1,000/day figure is a floor. A plaintiff who can prove actual damages above that amount recovers the higher figure. A plaintiff who cannot quantify actual damages still recovers $1,000 for each day the violation continued. Compare the federal ECPA floor at 18 U.S.C. 2520: the greater of $100 per day or $10,000. Wyoming's per-day floor is ten times the federal floor.

Good-faith reliance on a court order is a complete defense to both civil and criminal liability under Wyo. Stat. 7-3-710(b).

Note on civil limitations: Wyo. Stat. 1-3-105 contains three potentially applicable subsections (8-year for liability created by statute, 4-year for injury to rights, 1-year for penalty or forfeiture). Wyoming case law has not resolved which applies to section 7-3-710 actions. The conservative practice is to file within one year of discovery.

Recording the police in Wyoming

Wyoming sits in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Two Tenth Circuit decisions define the right to record police.

Frasier v. Evans, 992 F.3d 1003 (10th Cir. 2021) reversed a denial of qualified immunity for Denver officers who detained a man filming an arrest in August 2014. The Tenth Circuit held that, as of August 2014, the right to record police in public was not clearly established within the circuit, and officer training alone does not satisfy that standard.

Irizarry v. Yehia, 38 F.4th 1282 (10th Cir. 2022) course-corrected. A YouTube journalist filming a traffic stop in Lakewood, Colorado on May 26, 2019 had a clearly established First Amendment right to do so. The court relied on the persuasive weight of six sister circuits and reversed a qualified-immunity dismissal. For Wyoming events on or after May 26, 2019, officers who retaliate against peaceful recorders face qualified-immunity denial under Irizarry. Frasier still governs events before that date.

On the criminal side, a Wyoming citizen recording on-duty police in public is not committing wiretap interception under section 7-3-702. Officers performing public duties typically have no reasonable expectation of privacy in what they say on duty, and a participating bystander who speaks with an officer is a party to the communication under (b)(iv). Recording police is not, on its own, a Wyoming criminal offense.

See the Wyoming laws on recording police sub-page.

Special topics in Wyoming

Nonconsensual intimate imagery and deepfakes

Wyo. Stat. 6-4-306 criminalizes disseminating an intimate image of another person without consent, with a harassment or sexual-gratification intent element. The current offense is a misdemeanor carrying up to 1 year and $5,000. Wyoming has not elevated real-image NCII to a felony.

HB 0102 of the 2026 Budget Session (Enrolled Act 32), signed by Governor Mark Gordon, creates a package of five new sections effective July 1, 2026. Wyo. Stat. 6-4-307 makes knowing distribution of nonconsensual synthetic sexual material a felony carrying up to 10 years and $10,000 for a first offense, and up to 12 years for a repeat offense. Wyo. Stat. 6-4-308 makes knowingly developing or distributing an AI system specifically designed to create child pornography a felony (up to 10 years, $10,000). Wyo. Stat. 6-1-206 declares that use of an AI system is not a defense to a criminal charge. Wyo. Stat. 1-1-143 provides civil immunity for AI developers unless the system's primary purpose is illegal activity. Wyo. Stat. 6-4-701 criminalizes knowing development or distribution of an AI system specifically designed to promote self-harm.

The resulting structure is unusual: synthetic NCII is a felony starting July 1, 2026, while real-image NCII of the same victim remains a misdemeanor under section 6-4-306.

Federal TAKE IT DOWN Act

The federal TAKE IT DOWN Act, Pub. L. 119-12, signed May 19, 2025, fills part of this gap. It criminalizes knowing publication of nonconsensual intimate visual depictions, including AI-generated deepfakes, with penalties up to 2 years for adult victims and 3 years where a minor is depicted. The platform notice-and-removal obligation (48-hour takedown) became mandatory May 19, 2026. Wyoming victims can invoke federal TAKE IT DOWN Act protections alongside section 6-4-306 now and section 6-4-307 on and after July 1, 2026.

Recording at work and the NLRB

Wyoming's one-party rule extends to the workplace. An employee who is a party to an HR or supervisor meeting may record it without notice, provided the recording is not for an unlawful purpose. Wyoming is a right-to-work state under Wyo. Stat. 27-7-108, but NLRA jurisdiction over Wyoming private-sector employers is unaffected.

Under NLRB Stericycle, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 113 (Aug. 2, 2023), broad blanket no-recording handbook rules are presumptively unlawful unless narrowly tailored to a substantial business interest. NLRB GC 25-05 (Feb. 14, 2025) was a housekeeping rescission of prior enforcement-priority guidance, not a reinstatement of the prior Boeing standard. Stericycle remains controlling. Separately, NLRB GC 25-07 (June 25, 2025) declares surreptitious recording of formal collective-bargaining sessions a per se duty-to-bargain violation; that narrow rule does not apply to general workplace recording.

See the Wyoming workplace recording laws sub-page.

Body cameras and public records

Wyoming has no dedicated body-worn-camera operations statute. The only statutory framework for public access to peace-officer recordings is the Wyoming Public Records Act exception at Wyo. Stat. 16-4-203(d)(xviii). That provision defines "peace officer recording" and gives the records custodian discretion to allow inspection in five circumstances: law-enforcement official business, the person in interest, an incident of deadly force or serious bodily injury, a complaint against law-enforcement personnel not contrary to the public interest, or the interest of public safety. Deployment is voluntary and local.

Federal ECPA overlay

18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(d) provides the federal one-party-consent floor, tracking Wyoming's (b)(iv) text almost verbatim. For calls with automated or prerecorded voice, FCC Declaratory Ruling 24-17 (Feb. 2024) confirmed that AI-generated voice calls require prior express consent under the TCPA. The FCC's former beep-tone notice rule at 47 C.F.R. 64.501 was removed effective November 20, 2017 and is no longer in force.

Recent legal developments

• January 24, 2024: Kobielusz v. State, 2024 WY 10, confirmed the camera-felony tier of section 6-4-304(b)(i) is satisfied by the act of capturing an image, without proof of later viewing.
• July 11, 2022: Irizarry v. Yehia, 38 F.4th 1282 (10th Cir.), established a clearly established First Amendment right to film police in public as of May 26, 2019.
• May 19, 2025: Federal TAKE IT DOWN Act signed; platform notice-and-removal compliance became mandatory May 19, 2026.
• 2026 Budget Session (effective July 1, 2026): HB 0102 / Enrolled Act 32 (House) creates Wyoming's synthetic-NCII felony (Wyo. Stat. 6-4-307), AI-system-for-CSAM felony (6-4-308), AI-is-not-a-defense provision (6-1-206), AI-developer civil immunity (1-1-143), and self-harm AI system offense (6-4-701).

Wyoming recording laws in depth

The sub-pages below cover specific Wyoming recording contexts in greater depth.

By type of recording

• Wyoming Audio Recording Laws: One-Party Consent Guide
• Wyoming Video Recording Laws: Privacy Rules and Consent
• Wyoming Phone Call Recording Laws: Rules and Consent Guide
• Wyoming Dashcam Laws: Legality, Mounting, and Evidence Rules
• Wyoming Voyeurism Laws: Hidden Cameras and Privacy Violations
• Wyoming Security Camera Laws: Rules for Homes and Businesses

By place or relationship

• Wyoming Workplace Recording Laws: Employee and Employer Rights
• Wyoming Laws on Recording Police: Your Rights and Limits
• Wyoming Laws on Recording in Public: What You Can and Cannot Do
• Wyoming Landlord-Tenant Recording Laws: Rights and Rules
• Wyoming Medical Recording Laws: Patient Rights and HIPAA Guide
• Wyoming School Recording Laws: Security, Parents, and Students

More Wyoming laws

• Wyoming AI Meeting Recording Laws
• Wyoming At-Will Employment Laws
• Wyoming Data Privacy Laws
• Wyoming Divorce Laws
• Wyoming 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 Wyoming attorney.

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