Nebraska Interception of Wire, Electronic, and Oral Communications and Stored Communications Law

Nebraska Wiretap and Stored Communications Law

Communications · Employees · Location

Nebraska's wiretap law, modeled on the federal Wiretap Act and Stored Communications Act, bans intercepting, disclosing, or using wire, electronic, or oral communications without authorization. It is a one-party consent state: a participant, or someone with one party's prior consent, may record unless the purpose is a criminal or tortious act. It also restricts public communications providers from disclosing stored message contents and limits employer random monitoring.

Where: Nebraska
Citation: Neb. Rev. Stat. 86-271 to 86-2,115
Status: In force
Last amended: 2026-07-18
Enforced by: County attorneys and the Attorney General (criminal); private civil actions
People can sue: Yes
Penalties: Unlawful interception, disclosure, or use is a Class IV felony (86-290(1)); pen register violations are a Class I misdemeanor (86-298(3)). Civil actions allow equitable relief, the greater of actual damages plus profits or statutory damages of $100 per day or $10,000, and attorney's fees (86-297). Stored-communications violations carry at least $1,000 in civil damages (86-2,110). Two-year limitations period after discovery.
Applies to: Any person who intercepts, discloses, or uses wire, electronic, or oral communications (86-290)
Employers, switchboard operators, and communications providers monitoring in the ordinary course of business (86-290(2)(a))
Providers of electronic communication service or remote computing service to the public, as to stored communications (86-2,104 to 86-2,110)
Anyone installing pen registers or trap-and-trace devices (86-298)

What a privacy notice must say

Employers and providers may use service observing or random monitoring only for mechanical, service quality, or performance control checks, and only with reasonable notice of the random monitoring policy to employees.Neb. Rev. Stat. 86-290(2)(a) · Only if: Employers on their business premises and communications providers

Rights it gives people

Persons whose communications are unlawfully intercepted, disclosed, or used, and aggrieved providers, subscribers, or customers under the stored communications provisions, may sue for damages and attorney's fees.Neb. Rev. Stat. 86-297; 86-2,110

Practices it requires

One-party consent: a private person may intercept a communication if a party to it or one party has given prior consent, unless the purpose is a criminal or tortious act.Neb. Rev. Stat. 86-290(2)(c)
Do not install or use a pen register or trap-and-trace device without a court order, except for listed provider operations or with the user's consent.Neb. Rev. Stat. 86-298
Providers of public electronic communication or remote computing service may not knowingly divulge the contents of stored communications except to the addressee, with consent, as incident to service, or other listed exceptions.Neb. Rev. Stat. 86-2,105
Do not access an electronic communication service facility without authorization, or exceed authorization, to obtain, alter, or block stored communications.Neb. Rev. Stat. 86-2,104
Do not make, sell, possess, or send devices primarily useful for surreptitious interception.Neb. Rev. Stat. 86-296
Do not intentionally intercept, or use or disclose the contents of, a wire, electronic, or oral communication obtained through unlawful interception.Neb. Rev. Stat. 86-290(1)

Sources

Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.

Unverified: effective_date left null: the law dates to Laws 1969, c. 854, recodified in 2002 (LB1105); original effective date not confirmed. | last_amended 2026-07-18 reflects LB935 (2026) amending 86-2,103 (mobile tracking device warrants); other sections were not checked for 2026 changes.

Research reference, not legal advice.