Recording
MCL 750.539c — eavesdropping, and the private discourse of others
Michigan's eavesdropping statute makes it a felony for any person, present or not present during a private conversation, to wilfully use any device to eavesdrop upon it without the consent of all parties. The penalty is imprisonment of not more than 2 years, a fine of not more than $2,000, or both.
The definition is what the section turns on. To eavesdrop, as the act defines it, is to overhear, record, amplify or transmit any part of the private discourse of others without the permission of all persons engaged in the discourse. The words the definition uses, private discourse and of others, are where the argument about a particular recording is had.
The same set of sections defines a private place as one where a person may reasonably expect to be safe from casual or hostile intrusion or surveillance, and says it does not include a place to which the public or a substantial group of the public has access.
How Michigan courts have read the definition for a person who is a party to the conversation, and the separate question of filming police in public, turn on court decisions rather than on these sections, and are not covered on this page yet.
Sources for this section (2)
- MCL 750.539c — Eavesdropping upon a private conversation
- MCL 750.539a — Eavesdropping and surveillance; definitions
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Michigan attorney.