Law / United States / 
New Hampshire
New Hampshire Wiretapping and Eavesdropping Act, Interception and Civil Damages
RSA 570-A:1, 570-A:2, 570-A:11
In force since .
An interception and recording consent rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Consent, Prohibition
As of .
What it requires
- Do not intercept, disclose or use the contents of a telecommunication or oral communication without the consent of every party to it.
- The rule reaches any telecommunication carried in whole or in part over a communications common carrier's facilities, whether or not either party expected privacy, and an in-person oral communication only where the speaker reasonably expected, in the circumstances, that it would not be intercepted.
- Being a party to the conversation, or holding only one other party's prior consent, does not excuse you: knowingly intercepting a telecommunication or oral communication that way is itself an offense, and the chapter has no exception for a business recording its own sales or customer-service calls.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionYes
Criminal exposure note
Intercepting, disclosing or using a telecommunication or oral communication without the consent of every party, in violation of RSA 570-A:2, I, is a class B felony. A party, or a person with only one party's consent, who intercepts without the law-enforcement approval RSA 570-A:2, II(d) requires commits a misdemeanor under RSA 570-A:2, I-a.
Statutory damages
Actual damages, but not less than liquidated damages computed at the rate of $100 a day for each day of violation or $1,000, whichever is higher, plus punitive damages and a reasonable attorney's fee and other litigation costs reasonably incurred (RSA 570-A:11).
- As of
- Currency
- USD
- Per person minimum
- 1,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
A private civil action under RSA 570-A:11, brought by any aggrieved person; criminal prosecution by the State.
What this law does
Section 570-A:2 makes it a class B felony to wilfully intercept, disclose, or use the contents of a telecommunication or oral communication without the consent of every party to it, except where the chapter specifically provides otherwise.
A party to the communication, or a person who has obtained only one party's prior consent, who knowingly intercepts it without the law-enforcement approval that section 570-A:2, II(d) requires is guilty of a misdemeanor rather than a felony, so a participant may not lawfully record a conversation on their own consent alone.
A telecommunication is the transfer of any form of information in whole or in part through the facilities of a communications common carrier, and is covered whether or not either party expected privacy, while an oral communication is covered only where the speaker had a reasonable expectation, justified by the circumstances, that it would not be intercepted.
Telephone equipment furnished by a carrier and used by the subscriber in the ordinary course of its business is not an intercepting device under the chapter.
The chapter's exceptions in section 570-A:2, II reach a communications common carrier's own operators and employees, investigative and law enforcement officers acting under the chapter, Federal Communications Commission monitors, emergency responders and public utilities handling emergency calls, school buses, and police video, body-worn and TASER-mounted recorders; none of them lets an ordinary business record its own marketing, customer-service or support calls under a one-party consent standard.
Section 570-A:11 gives any person whose telecommunication or oral communication is intercepted, disclosed or used in violation of the chapter a civil action for actual damages, but not less than liquidated damages of $100 a day for each day of violation or $1,000, whichever is higher, plus punitive damages and a reasonable attorney's fee and litigation costs.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app records conversations, processes voice recordings or deploys a chatbot.