Legal Question in Technology Law in Illinois

Re: Is it necessary to gain consent of everyone to record a meeting?

No, you do not need the consent of every person. The Open Meetings Act provides that "any person may record the proceedings at meetings required to be open by this Act by tape, film or other means." 5 ILCS 120/2.05.

However, under section 2.05, if a witness before a "commission, administrative agency or other tribunal" refuses to testify because his or her testimony will be taped or filmed, "the authority holding the meeting shall prohibit such recording during the testimony of the witness."

David K. Staub, an Illinois business and technology attorney

Oops -- follow up

I re-read the question after I hit "submit" and realized that you had asked a question about a private organization that is presumably not subject to the Open Meetings Act. In that case, there is no exception under the Illinois eavesdropping statute (720 ILCS 5/14.1 et seq.) that would allow you to tape someone against their will.

I think that if the group announced that the meeting was being taped and that anyone could request that the recorder be stopped when that person was speaking, one person could not prevent the group from recording the conversation of other consenting participants. As long as there are reasonable procedures to avoid recording the comments of the party who did not want to be recorded, it does not seem that the group would be violating either the letter or the spirit of the law.