“In some states, at least one party to the conversation has to be aware it is being recorded.
In other states, BOTH parties have to know.”
Well, the one party consent statutes are certainly unconstitutional, and the states know it, because they will not prosecute anyone to the extent that it might get appealed beyond the state Supreme Court. They know the federal courts would strike their laws down very swiftly if that happened.
Basically, these laws are used as a handy way for the state to confiscate embarrassing recordings. Once they have their hands on them, they can do what they want with the recording and then drop the case later so they don’t risk having the laws struck down.
After your clarification, yes, I completely agree.