Glossary
Two-party consent
What two-party consent means for recording a phone call in California, and where it comes up when a business hands calls to AI.
Updated
Two-party consent: Two-party consent, also called all-party consent, is the rule that a phone call may be recorded only with the agreement of everyone on it, not just one side. California works this way. Its Penal Code section 632 bars recording a confidential call without the consent of all parties, and section 632.7 requires everyone's consent to record any call carried by a cell or cordless phone, whether or not the call is confidential. In 2021 the Supreme Court of California held that section 632.7 binds the people on the call as well as outsiders. The alternative, one-party consent, lets a call be recorded when any one person on it agrees.
Where it shows up
A business meets the rule the day it wants its calls recorded, for training or for AI call review. The usual way to ask is a short notice at the start of each call, and whether a notice is enough for a given call, and what it should say, is for the business and its lawyer to decide.
Recording, which here means keeping the audio of the conversation, stays off in the receptionist we build until you turn it on with a notice your lawyer has approved. The AI still turns what a caller says into text to answer it, and the voice platform keeps that text in an account in your name. Messages left on voicemail, when the receptionist cannot take a call, stay as audio whatever that setting says, so the written plan puts the text log and those messages before your lawyer as well as any recording. AI call review works only on calls you already record with consent, and none of this is legal advice.
Start with a written plan
Tell us about the business and what you need. We reply with questions, then a written plan that lists the work and its price, and nothing starts until you have read it.