Georgia Call Recording Laws: One-Party Consent

Georgia is a one-party consent state for audio: you may record a phone call or conversation you take part in, or one where a participant has given prior consent. But Georgia treats violations seriously. Eavesdropping without any party's consent is a felony with one to five years in prison.

Georgia also has a famous place in recording law: the leading case on interstate call recording involved a Georgia company recording calls with California clients. If your Georgia business serves customers in other states, read on.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Georgia recording law at a glance

Question	Answer in Georgia
Consent rule for phone calls	One party
Main statutes	O.C.G.A. §§ 16-11-62, 16-11-66
Can a participant record without telling others?	Yes
Video in private places	All persons observed must consent
Criminal penalty	Felony: 1 to 5 years, fine up to $10,000, or both
Civil suit	Recognized by courts

What the statute says

O.C.G.A. § 16-11-62 lists the eavesdropping and surveillance crimes, including intercepting the private conversation of another that originates in a private place, and using devices to overhear, transmit or record it.

Section 16-11-66(a) supplies the one-party exception: nothing in § 16-11-62 prohibits a person from intercepting a wire, oral or electronic communication where the person is a party to the communication or one of the parties has given prior consent.

Private places

According to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP), the in-person part of the statute applies to the "private conversation of another which shall originate in any private place," so consent is generally not needed to record conversations in public. Georgia also prohibits trespassing to eavesdrop (§ 16-11-62(3)).

Parents and minors

Georgia specifically allows a parent or guardian to secretly record a minor child's phone conversations to protect the child's welfare (§ 16-11-66(d)). That exception has nothing to do with business recording, but it shows how specific Georgia's statute is.

Audio versus video

Georgia has two different consent rules depending on what you capture:

What is recorded	Rule
Sound of a conversation you are part of	One-party consent
Images of activities in a private place, out of public view	All persons observed must consent (§ 16-11-62(2))

The Georgia Supreme Court drew that line in State v. Cohen, 807 S.E.2d 861 (Ga. 2017). For a business, this matters if you use video meetings or cameras in private offices: recording video of a private space needs everyone's consent.

Penalties

According to the RCFP, violating any provision of the eavesdropping statute is a felony punishable by one to five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both (O.C.G.A. § 16-11-69). Georgia also prohibits distributing photographs or video of another's activities in a private place without the consent of all parties (§ 16-11-62(6)).

Civil liability

Georgia's statutes do not spell out a civil remedy, but the RCFP notes federal courts have held that people recorded in violation of the law can sue (Kemeness v. Worth County, M.D. Ga. 2020). The federal Wiretap Act separately provides civil remedies under 18 U.S.C. § 2520, and federal law is also one-party consent under 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d).

The Georgia case every business should know

In Kearney v. Salomon Smith Barney, Inc. (2006), California residents sued a brokerage whose Atlanta office recorded calls with them without telling them. Georgia allowed it; California did not. The California Supreme Court applied California's all-party law to the recordings going forward, reasoning that California's interest in protecting its residents' privacy would be more impaired than Georgia's interest.

The lesson for any Georgia business with out-of-state customers: your one-party rule does not travel with you. More detail is in interstate call recording consent.

Calls between Georgia and neighboring states

Neighboring state	Rule for phone calls
Florida	All-party
Alabama	One-party
Tennessee	One-party
North Carolina	One-party
South Carolina	One-party

Florida is the neighbor that matters. Savannah, Valdosta and Atlanta businesses handle many calls with Florida residents. Florida makes recording without all-party consent a felony and allows civil suits. See the state-by-state recording table.

What this means for Georgia businesses

Call centers and national service teams

Metro Atlanta hosts many customer service and sales operations serving national customers. Treat every call as if it could be with a Californian or Floridian: play a recording notice before conversation starts.

Logistics and dispatch

Trucking, freight and delivery companies record dispatch calls for operations and disputes. Drivers and customers may be anywhere in the country, so a standard announcement is simpler than tracking locations.

Video meetings

If you record video calls from private offices, Georgia's all-person rule for images applies. Announce recording and let participants opt out of video.

Employee monitoring

Employees on monitored calls should consent through a written policy, and callers should hear a notice.

Three Georgia scenarios

An Atlanta staffing firm records recruiter calls with candidates. The recruiter is a party, so Georgia law allows it. Candidates are often in other states, so the firm plays a notice at the start of every recorded call.

A Savannah property manager records a call with a tenant in Jacksonville. Georgia allows it, Florida does not without all-party consent. The manager should announce the recording or not record.

A business owner hides a camera with audio in a private office to catch an employee. Audio of a conversation the owner is not part of, with no participant's consent, is eavesdropping. Video of a private place without everyone's consent is separately prohibited by § 16-11-62(2). Both are felonies.

Purpose and federal limits

Georgia's exception in § 16-11-66(a) does not mention purpose, but the federal Wiretap Act does: it excludes recordings made for criminal or tortious purposes. A Georgia participant who records a call to blackmail or defraud someone may be outside the state statute's felony and still violate federal law. Record for documentation, quality and training, and write those purposes into your policy.

Georgia recording checklist

• Recording notice before conversation on recorded inbound calls
• Notice at the start of outbound recorded calls, especially to Florida and California
• Video recording of private spaces only with everyone's consent
• Written employee policy on recording and monitoring
• No recording of others' private conversations
• Callers who object are not recorded
• Access controls and retention schedule

Wording is in call recording disclosure scripts.

Recording calls in Georgia with Callata

With recording turned on in Callata, both sides hear "This call may be recorded." as the call connects, on inbound and outbound calls, so your Florida and California callers are informed. Recorded calls are transcribed and summarized with sentiment and action items, saved to the contact's history. Callata's terms leave consent-law compliance with you. Recording is included in Callata Office, which is $99 a month for up to five users and $20 a month for each additional user. Get started.