Q&A on the News

Q: Is it illegal to tape-record someone without their knowledge and consent in Georgia?

— Laura Ryan, Peachtree Corners

A: In Georgia, an individual is generally allowed to record phone or in-person conversations that do not originate in a private place, according to the state’s wiretapping law.

“It uses a one-party consent rule that makes it a crime secretly to record conversations that originate in a private place, unless a party to the conversation has consented to the recording,” said Jonathan Peters, a communication law professor at the University of Georgia.

A quirk to Georgia’s law is that the individual recording the conversation can be the party consenting to record the conversation.

Though state law protects several aspects of recording other individuals, Georgia’s wiretapping law doesn’t protect individuals who use hidden cameras to “observe, photograph or record the activities of another which occur in any private place and out of the public view,” without the consent of those being recorded, Peters said.

This leads to another section of communication law — privacy claims — in particular, intrusion.

Intrusion is the invasion of an individual’s privacy. If an individual was in a private place out of the public view or believes they had a reasonable expectation of privacy and that privacy was violated by another individual’s recording, they could sue to “recover damages for an offensive physical, electronic or mechanical invasion of seclusion,” Peters said.

However, Peters said there’s no reasonable expectation of privacy in public places, meaning you are generally free to record anything in a public place.