|
U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 2510. Definitions
As used in this chapter -
(1) "wire communication" means any aural transfer made in whole
or in part through the use of facilities for the transmission of
communications by the aid of wire, cable, or other like
connection between the point of origin and the point of reception
(including the use of such connection in a switching station)
furnished or operated by any person engaged in providing or
operating such facilities for the transmission of interstate or
foreign communications or communications affecting interstate or
foreign commerce;
(2) "oral communication" means any oral communication uttered
by a person exhibiting an expectation that such communication is
not subject to interception under circumstances justifying such
expectation, but such term does not include any electronic
communication;
(3) "State" means any State of the United States, the District
of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any territory
or possession of the United States;
(4) "intercept" means the aural or other acquisition of the
contents of any wire, electronic, or oral communication through
the use of any electronic, mechanical, or other device.(!1)
(5) "electronic, mechanical, or other device" means any device
or apparatus which can be used to intercept a wire, oral, or
electronic communication other than -
(a) any telephone or telegraph instrument, equipment or
facility, or any component thereof, (i) furnished to the
subscriber or user by a provider of wire or electronic
communication service in the ordinary course of its business
and being used by the subscriber or user in the ordinary course
of its business or furnished by such subscriber or user for
connection to the facilities of such service and used in the
ordinary course of its business; or (ii) being used by a
provider of wire or electronic communication service in the
ordinary course of its business, or by an investigative or law
enforcement officer in the ordinary course of his duties;
(b) a hearing aid or similar device being used to correct
subnormal hearing to not better than normal;
(6) "person" means any employee, or agent of the United States
or any State or political subdivision thereof, and any
individual, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust,
or corporation;
(7) "Investigative or law enforcement officer" means any
officer of the United States or of a State or political
subdivision thereof, who is empowered by law to conduct
investigations of or to make arrests for offenses enumerated in
this chapter, and any attorney authorized by law to prosecute or
participate in the prosecution of such offenses;
(8) "contents", when used with respect to any wire, oral, or
electronic communication, includes any information concerning the
substance, purport, or meaning of that communication;
(9) "Judge of competent jurisdiction" means -
(a) a judge of a United States district court or a United
States court of appeals; and
(b) a judge of any court of general criminal jurisdiction of
a State who is authorized by a statute of that State to enter
orders authorizing interceptions of wire, oral, or electronic
communications;
(10) "communication common carrier" has the meaning given that
term in section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934;
(11) "aggrieved person" means a person who was a party to any
intercepted wire, oral, or electronic communication or a person
against whom the interception was directed;
(12) "electronic communication" means any transfer of signs,
signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any
nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio,
electromagnetic, photoelectronic or photooptical system that
affects interstate or foreign commerce, but does not include -
(A) any wire or oral communication;
(B) any communication made through a tone-only paging device;
(C) any communication from a tracking device (as defined in
section 3117 of this title); or
(D) electronic funds transfer information stored by a
financial institution in a communications system used for the
electronic storage and transfer of funds;
(13) "user" means any person or entity who -
(A) uses an electronic communication service; and
(B) is duly authorized by the provider of such service to
engage in such use;
(14) "electronic communications system" means any wire, radio,
electromagnetic, photooptical or photoelectronic facilities for
the transmission of wire or electronic communications, and any
computer facilities or related electronic equipment for the
electronic storage of such communications;
(15) "electronic communication service" means any service which
provides to users thereof the ability to send or receive wire or
electronic communications;
(16) "readily accessible to the general public" means, with
respect to a radio communication, that such communication is not
-
(A) scrambled or encrypted;
(B) transmitted using modulation techniques whose essential
parameters have been withheld from the public with the
intention of preserving the privacy of such communication;
(C) carried on a subcarrier or other signal subsidiary to a
radio transmission;
(D) transmitted over a communication system provided by a
common carrier, unless the communication is a tone only paging
system communication; or
(E) transmitted on frequencies allocated under part 25,
subpart D, E, or F of part 74, or part 94 of the Rules of the
Federal Communications Commission, unless, in the case of a
communication transmitted on a frequency allocated under part
74 that is not exclusively allocated to broadcast auxiliary
services, the communication is a two-way voice communication by
radio;
(17) "electronic storage" means -
(A) any temporary, intermediate storage of a wire or
electronic communication incidental to the electronic
transmission thereof; and
(B) any storage of such communication by an electronic
communication service for purposes of backup protection of such
communication;
(18) "aural transfer" means a transfer containing the human
voice at any point between and including the point of origin and
the point of reception;
(19) "foreign intelligence information", for purposes of
section 2517(6) of this title, means -
(A) information, whether or not concerning a United States
person, that relates to the ability of the United States to
protect against -
(i) actual or potential attack or other grave hostile acts
of a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power;
(ii) sabotage or international terrorism by a foreign power
or an agent of a foreign power; or
(iii) clandestine intelligence activities by an
intelligence service or network of a foreign power or by an
agent of a foreign power; or
(B) information, whether or not concerning a United States
person, with respect to a foreign power or foreign territory
that relates to -
(i) the national defense or the security of the United
States; or
(ii) the conduct of the foreign affairs of the United
States;
(20) "protected computer" has the meaning set forth in section
1030; and
(21) "computer trespasser" -
(A) means a person who accesses a protected computer without
authorization and thus has no reasonable expectation of privacy
in any communication transmitted to, through, or from the
protected computer; and
(B) does not include a person known by the owner or operator
of the protected computer to have an existing contractual
relationship with the owner or operator of the protected
computer for access to all or part of the protected computer.
|
|