Is it legal to record someone else&#39;s call in Arkansas if that recording is then never used?
<p>I looked up Arkansas law and it says it's illegal to record someone else's call if you are not a part of that call and you didn't get at least one person's consent.</p>
<p><a href="https://recordinglaw.com/united-states-recording-laws/one-party-consent-states/arkansas-recording-laws/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://recordinglaw.com/united-states-recording-laws/one-party-consent-states/arkansas-recording-laws/</a></p>
<p>Then I talked to my friend who is a lawyer, and she says, &quot;it's ok, you can record as much as you want as long as you don't attempt to use it anywhere. Recording other people's conversations that you are not a part of, and without permission is ok, as long as you don't use those conversations anywhere like evidence or something. Go on record as much as you want and keep it to yourself&quot;.</p>
<p>So technically you can record other people's conversations for yourself, and never use them. And this will be totally fine, as long as you keep those conversations to yourself.</p>
<p>Is this correct?</p>

<p><a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/2020/title-5/subtitle-6/chapter-60/subchapter-1/section-5-60-120/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ark. Code 5-60-120</a> is very clear that the act of <em>intercepting</em> is a crime. Not just &quot;recording and using&quot;, not just &quot;recording&quot;, but intercepting in any way. Specifically:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is unlawful for a person to intercept a wire, landline, oral,
telephonic communication, or wireless communication, and to record or
possess a recording of the communication unless the person is a party
to the communication or one (1) of the parties to the communication
has given prior consent to the interception and recording.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Intercepting is illegal, therefore it is not &quot;okay&quot;. Perhaps the &quot;sort of a lawyer&quot; was speaking of the probability of getting caught doing it.</p>

<p>You are asking if it is legal to do something the law you quote says clearly is <em>not</em> legal.  Sometimes an answer here says “ask a real lawyer not random people in the internet.”</p>
<p>In this case I think you are getting a better answer from people on the internet.</p>
<p>No - the wording of that law says it is a criminal offense to record a phone call you are not part of.</p>

phonecall arkansas