Indiana Call Recording Laws: One-Party Consent

Indiana is a one-party consent state for phone calls: a sender or receiver of a communication may record it, and so may someone acting with a participant's consent. Intercepting a call you are not part of without consent is a felony that can carry up to six years in prison, plus civil damages.

Indiana's main recording law is written around "electronic communications," a term broad enough to include phone calls, texts and email. For Indiana businesses, the bigger compliance question is often Illinois, which sits next door with an all-party rule.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Indiana recording law at a glance

Question	Answer in Indiana
Consent rule for phone calls	One party (sender or receiver)
Key statutes	Ind. Code §§ 35-31.5-2-176 (definition), 35-33.5-5-5 (offense)
Can a participant record without telling others?	Yes
In-person conversations	Not addressed by the interception statute
Criminal penalty	Felony; RCFP: 1 to 6 years, up to $10,000
Civil damages	Actual damages, at least $100/day or $1,000, plus punitive damages and fees (§ 35-33.5-5-4)

How Indiana defines interception

Indiana builds its rule into a definition. Ind. Code § 35-31.5-2-176 defines "interception" as the intentional recording or acquisition of the contents of an electronic communication by a person other than a sender or receiver of that communication, without the consent of the sender or receiver, by means of any instrument, device or equipment.

Three consequences follow:

1. A sender or receiver who records is not intercepting.
2. A third party with the sender's or receiver's consent is not intercepting.
3. A third party without any participant's consent is intercepting.

Ind. Code § 35-33.5-5-5 then makes it a felony to knowingly or intentionally intercept a communication in violation of the chapter.

What counts as an electronic communication

According to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP), Indiana's definition (§ 35-31.5-2-110) covers "any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, oral communication, digital information, or intelligence of any nature" transmitted by wire, radio or similar systems. Phone calls, VoIP calls, texts and email all fit.

In-person conversations

The RCFP notes that the interception statute does not address in-person conversations, citing Whitt v. Town of New Carlisle (Ind. Ct. App. 2021). That does not make all in-person recording safe:

• Indiana's surveillance law (§ 35-46-8.5-1) makes it a misdemeanor to leave a camera or device recording "images or data of any kind" unattended on another person's private property without consent. It is unclear whether "data" includes conversations.
• Voyeurism laws (§ 35-45-4-5) prohibit secret recording in homes, restrooms and dressing rooms, and using drones to record people at their residences out of public view.
• Federal law still applies to oral communications.

Penalties

Violation	Statute	Penalty (per RCFP)
Intercepting a communication	§ 35-33.5-5-5	Felony; 1 to 6 years, up to $10,000
Unattended surveillance device on private property	§ 35-46-8.5-1	Misdemeanor; up to 1 year, up to $5,000
Video voyeurism	§ 35-45-4-5	Misdemeanor or felony depending on conduct

Civil liability

Indiana's civil remedy, § 35-33.5-5-4, lets a person whose communication was intercepted, disclosed or used in violation of the chapter recover the greater of actual damages, $100 a day for each day of violation, or $1,000, plus punitive damages, court costs and attorney's fees, according to the RCFP.

Federal law

The federal Wiretap Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d), is also one-party: a person may record a call they are part of, or that a party consented to, unless the purpose is criminal or tortious. Indiana's rule is consistent with it for phone calls.

Calls between Indiana and other states

Neighboring state	Rule for phone calls
Illinois	All-party for private conversations; secret recording is the offense
Michigan	Disputed for participants; cautious reading is all-party
Ohio	One-party
Kentucky	One-party

Northwest Indiana is part of the Chicago metro, and Illinois makes it a Class 4 felony to secretly record a private conversation without the consent of all other parties. Michigan's courts disagree on whether participants may record without consent. Read interstate call recording consent and see the state-by-state table.

Three Indiana scenarios

An Indianapolis insurance agency records client calls. The agent is a party, so the recording is not an interception under Indiana law. A greeting notice also covers clients who call from Illinois.

A Gary contractor secretly records a call with a Chicago homeowner. Lawful in Indiana. In Illinois, a party's secret recording of a private conversation without the other party's consent is eavesdropping. The contractor should announce it.

A business owner installs software to capture texts on an employee's personal phone. The owner is not a sender or receiver and has no participant's consent. That is interception of electronic communications under Indiana law, a felony, with civil exposure.

What this means for Indiana businesses

Manufacturing, logistics and distribution

Indiana companies talk to suppliers and customers across the Midwest. Many of those calls are with Illinois or Michigan. A standard notice handles them.

Healthcare

Recordings with patient information need access controls and retention rules beyond consent.

Employee communications

Monitoring employees' company phones and accounts is common. Monitoring personal devices or accounts the employee has not consented to is where interception problems start. Put monitoring terms in a signed policy.

Company phones versus personal devices

Indiana's definition turns on who is a sender or receiver. That makes the device question important for employers. A business recording calls on its own phone system, where its employee is a party, is on solid ground. Capturing communications on an employee's personal phone or account, where the business is neither sender nor receiver, needs the employee's consent. Put the boundary in writing: which systems are business systems, that they may be recorded and monitored, and that personal devices and accounts are not.

Recording interviews and meetings

Because Indiana's interception statute does not address in-person conversations, businesses sometimes assume meeting recordings are unregulated. Federal law still covers oral communications where people expect privacy, and participants from other states may be protected by their own laws. Announce recordings of meetings and video calls, and get consent from external participants.

Indiana recording checklist

• Recording notice at the start of recorded inbound calls
• Spoken notice on outbound recorded calls, particularly to Illinois and Michigan
• Signed employee policy on recording and monitoring of company devices
• No interception of communications you are not party to
• No unattended recording devices on others' private property
• Callers who object are not recorded
• Recordings restricted and retained on a schedule

Wording is in call recording disclosure scripts.

Recording calls in Indiana with Callata

When recording is on in Callata, both sides hear "This call may be recorded." as the call connects, on inbound and outbound calls, so a Chicago-area caller is never recorded in secret. Recordings are transcribed and summarized with sentiment and action items, saved to the contact's history. Callata's terms leave consent-law compliance with you. Pricing starts at $99 a month for five users, and each user after that adds $20 a month. Get started.