Electronic and Mechanical Eavesdropping
Iowa Eavesdropping Law
Communications
Iowa is a one-party consent state: a person who is a party to a conversation, or openly present and listening, may record it, but secretly listening to or recording others' conversations without authority is a crime. A 2018 amendment added an exception for doorbell and outdoor security cameras on a person's own property.
- Where
- Iowa
- Citation
- Iowa Code 727.8
- Status
- In force
- Last amended
- 2018-07-01
- Enforced by
- County attorneys and the Attorney General (criminal prosecution)
- People can sue
- No
- Penalties
- Serious misdemeanor (727.8(2)).
- Applies to
- Any person who, without right or authority, taps a communication wire or by electronic or mechanical means listens to, records, or intercepts a conversation or communication (727.8(2))
- Excluded: a sender, recipient, or person openly present and participating in or listening to a communication; radio or TV receivers; and home 'monitoring devices' (doorbell or security cameras) placed outside a dwelling on the owner's or lessee's property, not in a shared hallway (727.8(1), (3))
Practices it requires
- Do not tap or connect a recording device to a communication line, or electronically listen to, record, or intercept any conversation, without right or authority.Iowa Code 727.8(2)
- A sender or recipient, or a person openly present and participating in or listening to a communication, may record it (one-party consent).Iowa Code 727.8(3)(a)
- Outdoor audio or video monitoring devices placed on property the person owns or leases to prevent or prove crime are exempt, if not in a shared hallway.Iowa Code 727.8(1), (3)(c) · From 2018-07-01
Sources
- Official text
- Iowa Code 727.8 (Iowa Code 2026, Iowa Legislature)
- 2018 Iowa Acts ch. 1102 (HF 2392), approved April 10, 2018
Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.
Unverified: Original effective date not determined; the provision traces to the Code of 1897 (section 4816). The 2018 amendment date is inferred from the Iowa Code 3.7 default July 1 rule (the act has no special effective-date clause).
Research reference, not legal advice.