New York Laws on Recording in Public: Rights, Limits, and Privacy Rules

In New York, the First Amendment protects your right to photograph and video record in public spaces such as streets, parks, and sidewalks without a permit. Audio recording follows the one-party consent rule: Penal Law 250.00 defines terms like wiretapping and mechanical overhearing, and Penal Law 250.05 makes unlawful eavesdropping a crime, together allowing you to record conversations you participate in without notifying others.

New York broadly protects the right to record in public. The First Amendment, New York Civil Rights Law, and the state's Open Meetings Law all support your ability to photograph, video record, and audio record in public spaces. There is no general statute prohibiting recording in public, and New York's one-party consent law allows you to record conversations you participate in without telling other parties.

This guide covers your rights to record on public streets and in public buildings, the rules for recording at protests and demonstrations, the distinction between public and private property, commercial filming requirements, and the specific situations where recording in public can cross legal lines.

Your Right to Record in Public Spaces

Constitutional Protection

The First Amendment protects your right to gather information in public spaces, including through photography and video recording. Federal courts have consistently held that recording in public is a form of expression protected by the Constitution. This protection extends to:

• Taking photos and video on public streets, sidewalks, and plazas
• Filming public buildings, bridges, and landmarks from public property
• Recording events visible from public vantage points
• Livestreaming activity in public spaces
• Photographing people in public (though use of the images for commercial purposes may require consent)

New York Civil Rights Law

New York Civil Rights Law provides additional protections related to recording and privacy. While Sections 50 and 51 of the Civil Rights Law restrict the use of a person's name, portrait, or picture for advertising or trade purposes without consent, these provisions do not prevent you from recording in public for personal, journalistic, or educational purposes.

What You Can Record in Public

In public spaces in New York, you can legally:

• Film people, buildings, vehicles, and events visible from public property
• Record police officers, fire fighters, and other government officials performing their duties
• Film protests, demonstrations, marches, and rallies
• Record street performances, public art, and outdoor events
• Take photos of storefronts, buildings, and street scenes
• Record your own conversations with people in public under one-party consent
• Film from your own property or from any place where you have a lawful right to be

Recording at Protests and Demonstrations

Protections for Recording at Protests

Recording protests and demonstrations is strongly protected under the First Amendment. In New York, you can:

• Film a protest from the sidewalk, street, or other public area
• Record both the protesters and the police response
• Livestream protest activity in real time
• Photograph signs, banners, and other protest materials

Limitations During Protests

While recording at protests is protected, you must still follow general laws:

• Do not block traffic, emergency vehicles, or pedestrian access
• Follow lawful police orders to disperse or move to a specific area (note: an order to stop recording, on its own, is not lawful)
• Do not trespass on private property to record
• Stay behind police barricades when they have been lawfully established
• Do not physically interfere with police operations or arrest procedures

Protest Recording and Police Interactions

If police attempt to prevent you from recording a protest, assert your First Amendment rights calmly. Officers cannot confiscate your device or delete footage without a warrant. If your rights are violated, document the officer's badge number and file a complaint with the appropriate oversight body.

Recording on Private Property Open to the Public

The Distinction Between Public and Private

Many spaces that feel "public" are actually private property. Shopping malls, restaurants, retail stores, movie theaters, and office building lobbies are privately owned, even though the public is invited in. The property owner or operator controls recording on their premises.

Business and Property Owner Rights

A private property owner can:

• Prohibit all photography and video recording on their premises
• Set specific conditions for recording (no flash photography, no tripods, etc.)
• Ask you to stop recording and leave if you refuse
• Call police to enforce a trespassing charge if you refuse to leave after being asked

However, a property owner cannot confiscate your device or force you to delete recordings. If you comply with a request to leave, the recording you already made remains yours.

Common Semi-Public Locations

Recording Government Proceedings

Open Meetings Law

The New York Open Meetings Law (Public Officers Law Sections 100 through 111) requires that meetings of public bodies be open to the public. Recording of open meetings is generally permitted. This includes:

• City council meetings
• County legislature sessions
• School board meetings
• Town board meetings
• Public hearings and committee meetings
• State legislative proceedings open to the public

Government bodies can adopt reasonable rules about the placement of recording equipment (camera placement, tripod positioning, lighting) but generally cannot prohibit recording altogether.

Court Proceedings

New York courtrooms have traditionally restricted or prohibited recording. Civil Rights Law 52 makes it a misdemeanor to televise, broadcast, or take motion pictures of a proceeding in which a court, commission, or tribunal takes witness testimony under subpoena or other compulsory process, subject to narrow exceptions (Public Service Commission rate hearings, and legislative hearings where testimony is given voluntarily) that require the presiding officer's consent, each witness's written consent, and a finding that broadcast serves the public interest. Outside those exceptions, cameras and recording devices remain generally prohibited in New York state courtrooms unless specifically authorized by the presiding judge.

Federal courts in New York also generally prohibit cameras in the courtroom, following the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and local rules of the individual district courts.

Public Transportation

MTA Subways, Buses, and Stations

Recording on New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) system is generally permitted. The MTA does not prohibit personal photography or non-commercial video recording on its platforms, in its stations, or on its vehicles. You can:

• Take photos on subway platforms and in stations
• Record video on buses and subway cars
• Photograph MTA infrastructure and signage

Commercial filming (for advertisements, movies, or television) requires a permit from the MTA or the relevant city agency.

Commuter Rail and Amtrak

Metro-North, Long Island Rail Road, and Amtrak generally permit personal photography and video recording. Commercial filming typically requires advance permission.

Audio Recording in Public

One-Party Consent in Public Settings

New York's one-party consent law (Penal Law 250.05, which draws on the definitions in Penal Law 250.00) applies to audio recording in public just as it does in private settings. As a participant in a conversation, you can record without telling the other person.

In public, there is an additional consideration: people who speak in a manner where non-participating third parties may freely overhear have a diminished expectation of privacy. New York courts have recognized that conversations conducted in public places like restaurants, parks, and busy sidewalks carry less privacy protection than private discussions.

Recording Other People's Conversations in Public

While you can record your own conversations in public, recording conversations between other people that you are not part of raises eavesdropping concerns. Even in public, if people are speaking privately (whispering, speaking at a distance from others), intercepting their conversation with a directional microphone or hidden recording device could constitute mechanical overhearing under the eavesdropping statute.

Commercial Filming and Photography

When a Permit Is Required

New York City requires permits for commercial filming and photography in most situations. The Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) issues permits for:

• Film and television production on city streets
• Commercial photo shoots in public spaces
• Advertising and marketing photography
• Any production using equipment that requires exclusive use of city property

When a Permit Is Not Required

You generally do not need a permit for:

• Personal photography and video (vacation photos, social media content)
• News gathering and journalism
• Documentary filming in public without exclusive use of public property
• Student projects (some exceptions may apply)
• Recording with handheld devices that do not obstruct public access

Right of Publicity Considerations

New York Civil Rights Law Sections 50 and 51 protect an individual's right of publicity. While you can freely photograph or record people in public, using someone's image for commercial purposes (advertising, product promotion, trade use) without their written consent can result in civil liability. This does not apply to newsworthy, educational, or artistic uses.

Recording and Privacy: Where Public Ends

Reasonable Expectation of Privacy

Even in public spaces, some situations carry a reasonable expectation of privacy that limits recording:

• Public restrooms and changing facilities
• Hospital emergency rooms and medical treatment areas
• Private conversations conducted in a secluded manner, even in a public setting
• Certain areas of government buildings (secure zones, chambers, holding areas)

Harassment Through Recording

While recording in public is legal, New York's harassment and stalking laws can apply if recording is used as a tool for harassment:

• Repeatedly following and recording someone after being asked to stop could support a harassment charge under Penal Law 240.26
• Using recordings to stalk or intimidate someone may violate New York's stalking statutes (Penal Law 120.45 through 120.60)
• Persistent, targeted surveillance of a specific individual from public spaces may give rise to civil claims for intrusion upon seclusion

Drones and Aerial Recording in Public

Using drones for aerial photography and video in New York is subject to both state law and FAA regulations. While New York does not have a comprehensive drone privacy statute, practical limitations include:

• New York City generally prohibits drone operation under local administrative code, with limited exceptions for commercial operators with proper FAA authorization
• FAA regulations require drone registration, remote pilot certification for commercial use, and compliance with airspace restrictions
• Using a drone to record someone in a private space could constitute unlawful surveillance under Penal Law 250.45

More New York Recording Laws

Audio Recording | Video Recording | Voyeurism and Hidden Cameras | Workplace Recording | Recording Police | Phone Call Recording | Security Cameras | Recording in Public | Landlord-Tenant Recording | Dashcam Laws | School Recording | Medical Recording

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