Wyoming Call Recording Laws: One-Party Consent

Wyoming is a one-party consent state: you may record a phone call or conversation you are part of, or one where a participant has given prior consent, unless the purpose is criminal or tortious. Intercepting a call without any party's consent is a felony, and Wyoming's civil damages are calculated at not less than $1,000 a day.

For Wyoming businesses, recording your own calls is lawful. Montana, to the north, expects every party to know about a recording unless warned.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Wyoming recording law at a glance

Question	Answer in Wyoming
Consent rule	One party
Main statute	Wyo. Stat. § 7-3-702
Can a participant record without telling others?	Yes, unless for a criminal or tortious purpose
Criminal penalty	Felony: up to 5 years, up to $1,000, or both
Civil damages	Actual damages, not less than $1,000 per day of violation; punitive damages; fees (§ 7-3-710)
Texts and email	Covered

What the statute says

Wyoming's interception law is in Title 7, Chapter 3, Article 7 of the Wyoming Statutes. Section 7-3-702 prohibits intentionally intercepting wire, oral or electronic communications, and disclosing or using contents known to have been illegally intercepted.

The statute's list of lawful interceptions includes:

"Any person from intercepting an oral, wire or electronic communication where the person is a party to the communication or where one (1) of the parties to the communication has given prior consent to the interception unless the communication is intercepted for the purpose of committing any criminal or tortious act"

The statute sets the penalty: a felony punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000, imprisonment for not more than five years, or both. Interceptions of the radio portion of a cellular call, a cordless phone's handset-to-base transmission, public land mobile radio or paging are misdemeanors, with a fine of up to $750, up to six months, or both.

Lawful interceptions in the same section

Section 7-3-702 does not only prohibit; it also lists what is lawful. Besides the consent exception, it covers communication carriers acting in the normal course of service and certain government activities. None of the other exceptions covers a private business recording its own calls. For that, the party-or-consent rule is the one that matters, which is why documenting consent, through a notice to callers and a signed employee policy, is the foundation of a Wyoming recording program.

In-person conversations

Wyoming protects oral communications "uttered by a person who reasonably expects and circumstances justify the expectation that the communication is not subject to interception" (§ 7-3-701). A participant may record. Public conversations generally are not protected.

Texts and email

The definition of electronic communication covers "any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data or intelligence of any nature." One-party consent governs intercepting texts and email.

Penalties

Violation	Statute	Penalty
Intercepting, disclosing or using illegally	§ 7-3-702	Felony: up to 5 years, up to $1,000, or both
Certain radio-portion interceptions	§ 7-3-702	Misdemeanor: up to 6 months, up to $750, or both

Civil liability

Wyo. Stat. § 7-3-710(a) gives anyone whose communication is intercepted, disclosed or used in violation of the article a civil claim. The statute provides actual damages, but not less than $1,000 a day for each day of violation, along with punitive damages and attorney's fees and costs, according to the statute and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP).

A $1,000-a-day rate is ten times the $100-a-day rate most states use. Unlawful monitoring that continues for weeks can add up quickly.

Federal law

Wyoming's consent rule matches the federal Wiretap Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d), which allows a party, or someone with a party's prior consent, to record unless the purpose is criminal or tortious. Federal civil remedies under § 2520 also apply.

Calls between Wyoming and neighboring states

Neighbor	Rule for phone calls
Montana	All parties must know, unless warned
Idaho	One-party
Utah	One-party
Colorado	One-party
Nebraska	One-party
South Dakota	One-party

Montana is the exception. Its statute makes it an offense to record a conversation with a hidden device without the knowledge of all parties, unless they were given warning. Sheridan, Cody and Gillette businesses deal with Montana customers regularly. Jackson's tourism economy also brings callers from California and Washington. Read interstate call recording consent and see the state-by-state table.

Three Wyoming scenarios

A Jackson Hole lodge records reservation calls with a notice. Agents are parties, and California callers hear the notice.

A Sheridan rancher secretly records a cattle sale call with a buyer in Billings, Montana. Wyoming allows it. Montana expects a warning. Give one.

A Casper oilfield company monitors calls between two contractors using the company's radio-to-phone system, without either knowing. The company is not a party and has no consent. That is a felony, and each person recorded could claim at least $1,000 a day of violation.

What this means for Wyoming businesses

Energy and mining

Operations calls are often recorded for safety. Record your own lines, with notice, and keep recordings centrally.

Tourism

Lodges and outfitters serve visitors nationwide. Announce recordings on booking lines.

Agriculture

Recorded sale and contract calls settle disputes. Warn Montana buyers.

Employees

A signed recording and monitoring policy documents consent on your side, which matters given Wyoming's daily damages rate.

Daily damages in practice

Because Wyoming computes civil damages at no less than $1,000 for each day of violation, the length of an unlawful recording program matters as much as the number of people recorded. A hidden recorder left running in a shared office for a month, or monitoring software installed on a phone for a quarter, multiplies exposure day by day. If you discover recording that lacks consent, stop it immediately, preserve what exists for legal advice rather than deleting it, and fix the consent process before turning recording back on.

Wyoming recording checklist

• Recording notice at the start of recorded inbound calls
• Spoken notice on outbound recorded calls, especially to Montana
• Signed employee recording and monitoring policy
• No interception of calls, texts or email you are not party to
• Recordings made for legitimate business purposes only
• Callers who object are not recorded
• Access controls and retention schedule

Wording is in call recording disclosure scripts.

Recording calls in Wyoming with Callata

With recording turned on, Callata plays "This call may be recorded." to both sides as the call connects, inbound and outbound, which gives Montana callers the warning their law expects. Recordings are transcribed and summarized with sentiment and action items on the contact's history. Callata's terms keep consent-law compliance with you. Callata Office is $99 a month with five users included, and each additional user is $20 a month; recording comes with the plan. Get started.